CCHR Endorses Survey from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality survey results show that psychiatrists, representing only 4 percent of the U.S. physician population, accounted for nearly 50 million (29 percent) of antidepressant prescriptions in 2005.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 20, 2008 -- The Citizens Commissions on Human Rights International (http://www.cchr.org) (CCHR) officially endorses a recent survey released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The survey states that psychiatrists, representing only 4 percent of the U.S. physician population, accounted for nearly 50 million (29 percent) of antidepressant prescriptions in 2005. Essentially, the survey concludes that there were 1,207 prescriptions per psychiatrist, compared to 137 per physician in other fields.

CCHR's concern over pharmaceutical company influence over the psychiatric industry and their prescribing patterns has increased since last year after Vermont and Minnesota revealed ("Psychiatrists Top List of Drugmakers Gifts," New York Times, 27 June 2007) that psychiatrists made more pharma money than any other medical specialty. Both states require disclosure of all pharma payments to medical doctors. This year's report entitled "Pharmaceutical Marketing Disclosures Report of Vermont Attorney General:" showed an additional 25 percent pay increase to psychiatrists in 2007 from 2006.

A July 12, 2008 article in The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/washington/12psych.html?ref=health) reported the American Psychiatric Association was under attack for its alleged conflicts of interest with drug companies, and explained, "In 2006, the latest year for which numbers are available, the drug industry accounted for about 30 percent of the association's $62.5 million in financing." The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/26/AR2007062601963_pf.html) reported, "Last year's meeting of the American Psychiatric Association…reflects the extent of corporate sponsorships.... Some instructors were sponsored by at least a dozen companies."

Since pharmaceutical conflicts of interest have garnered intense scrutiny, both in the press and in federal investigations, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has come increasingly under fire, says CCHR. A study (Lisa Cosgrove, et al., "Financial Ties between DSM-IV Panel Members and the Pharmaceutical Industry," Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Vol. 75, 2006) conducted in 2006 revealed that at least half (56 percent) of the researchers who worked on revising the manual had at least one financial tie to a drug company. Researchers (Lisa Cosgrove, et al., "Financial Ties between DSM-IV Panel Members and the Pharmaceutical Industry," Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Vol. 75, 2006) also found that 100 percent of the psychiatrists on panels overseeing so-called "mood disorders," including bipolar disorder, were financially involved with drug companies that manufacture the drugs prescribed for these conditions. According to IMS Health, the sales of these were around $40 billion worldwide. In a March 2008 article entitled, "Psychiatry Handbook Linked to Drug Industry," The New York Times (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/psychiatry-handbook-linked-to-drug-industry/) reported, "More than half of the task force members who will oversee the next edition of the American Psychiatric Association's most important diagnostic handbook have ties to the drug industry."

CCHR feels that if psychiatrists sitting on DSM panels are funded by pharmaceutical companies that must have new disorders in order to market their drugs, there is no denying that a conflict of interest exists. CCHR asserts that without any blood test, brain scan, x-ray or lab test that can verify any mental disorder on par with regular diseases or illness, psychiatrists can pathologize any behavior and repackage it as a disease, while pharmaceutical companies create the drugs to sell to patients as treatment.

For more information, please visit www.psychconflicts.org.

About CCHR:

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (http://www.cchr.org) (CCHR) is a non-profit, public benefit organization dedicated to investigating and exposing psychiatric violations of human rights. It also ensures that criminal acts within the psychiatric industry are reported to the proper authorities and acted upon.

Media Contact:

Marla Filidei

marla at cchr dot org

323-467-4242

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