The truth behind "mental health advocacy groups" and the DSM
Many mental health advocacy groups (pretending to be) fighting for your rights as a mentally ill person? They are actually funded by the pharmaceutical companies. The government agencies of NIMH, NIDA, FDA and NIH? All funded by Big Pharma.
The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)? Yep, funded by Big Pharma as well.
The DSM is driven not by science, but instead caters to the pharmaceutical industry. With its expanding list of “mental disorders”-voted into existence, not discovered as in real medicine-for each of these a psychiatric drug can be prescribed and insurance companies billed. That big formula spells big profits for psychiatrists and drug companies. And this has been exposed more recently with a U.S. Senate Finance Committee investigation into the APA itself and the fact that about 56% of its $12 million-a-year income derives from drug makers.
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Studies Expose Conflicts of Interest: That became evident in the landmark study published in the journal of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics in 2006 that found that for more than half of the panel members that reviewed which disorders would be included in the fourth edition revision of DSM (1994), more than half had undisclosed financial links to Big Pharma. For the so-called mood disorders (“depression” and “bipolar”) and “schizophrenia/psychotic disorder,” 100% of the panel members had financial involvements with drug companies. Sales of the drugs prescribed for these (by virtue of their inclusion in the DSM) reach more than $80 billion worldwide. (more at above link)
The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)? Yep, funded by Big Pharma as well.
The DSM is driven not by science, but instead caters to the pharmaceutical industry. With its expanding list of “mental disorders”-voted into existence, not discovered as in real medicine-for each of these a psychiatric drug can be prescribed and insurance companies billed. That big formula spells big profits for psychiatrists and drug companies. And this has been exposed more recently with a U.S. Senate Finance Committee investigation into the APA itself and the fact that about 56% of its $12 million-a-year income derives from drug makers.
[...]
Studies Expose Conflicts of Interest: That became evident in the landmark study published in the journal of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics in 2006 that found that for more than half of the panel members that reviewed which disorders would be included in the fourth edition revision of DSM (1994), more than half had undisclosed financial links to Big Pharma. For the so-called mood disorders (“depression” and “bipolar”) and “schizophrenia/psychotic disorder,” 100% of the panel members had financial involvements with drug companies. Sales of the drugs prescribed for these (by virtue of their inclusion in the DSM) reach more than $80 billion worldwide. (more at above link)