Healthy Skepticism Library item: 2528

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Lennard HL, Epstein LJ, Bernstein A, Ransom DC.
Hazards implicit in prescribing psychoactive drugs.
Science 1970 Jul 31; 169:(944):438-41

Abstract:

It is apparent that the pharmaceutical industry is redefining and relabeling as medical problems calling for drug intervention a wide range of human behaviours. Much evidence for this position is to be found in the advertisements of drug companies, both in medical journals and in direct mailings to physicians. The authors provide a series of examples to back up their contention. The descriptions of the effects of psychotropic drugs provided in advertisements and circulars to physicians serve to perpetuate and deepen the mystification that surrounds the use of drugs to alter states of consciousness and regulate behaviour.

Keywords:
*analysis/journal advertisements/direct mail/psychotropic drugs/medicalization of problems/women/children/quality of information/images in ads/EVALUATION OF PROMOTION: DIRECT MAIL/EVALUATION OF PROMOTION: JOURNAL ADVERTISEMENTS/IMAGES IN PROMOTION: WOMEN/INFLUENCE OF PROMOTION: MEDICALIZATION OF PROBLEMS/PROMOTION IN SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC AREAS: PSYCHIATRIC DISEASES MeSH Terms: Advertising Chlordiazepoxide/therapeutic use Cognition/drug effects Drug Therapy Emotions/drug effects Humans Imipramine/therapeutic use Interpersonal Relations Psychopharmacology* Social Behavior Disorders/chemically induced