Editing Anti-psychiatry (section)

=== Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry ===
Critics of psychiatry commonly express a concern that the path of diagnosis and treatment in contemporary society is primarily or overwhelmingly shaped by profit prerogatives, echoing a common criticism of general medical practice in the United States, where many of the largest psychopharmaceutical producers are based.<ref name=LevineAlterNet /><ref>{{cite book |last=Moynihan |first=Ray and Alan Cassels |title=Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies are Turning Us All Into Patients |publisher=Nation Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-56025-697-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/sellingsicknessh00raym }}</ref>

Psychiatric research has demonstrated varying degrees of [[efficacy]] for improving or managing a number of mental health disorders through either medications, psychotherapy, or a combination of the two. Typical psychiatric medications include [[stimulant]]s, [[antidepressant]]s, [[anxiolytic]]s, and [[antipsychotic]]s (neuroleptics).

On the other hand, organizations such as [[MindFreedom International]] and [[World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry]] maintain that psychiatrists exaggerate the evidence of medication and minimize the evidence of [[adverse drug reaction]]. They and other [[Psychiatric survivors movement|activists]] believe individuals are not given balanced information, and that current psychiatric medications do not appear to be specific to particular disorders in the way mainstream psychiatry asserts;<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?doi=83999 |title=Rethinking Models of Psychotropic Drug Action |year=2005 |doi=10.1159/000083999 |pmid=15832065 |last1=Moncrieff |first1=Joanna |last2=Cohen |first2=David |journal=Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics |volume=74 |issue=3 |pages=145–153 |s2cid=6917144 |access-date=2006-03-10 |archive-date=2011-12-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111225150359/http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?doi=83999 |url-status=live }}</ref> and psychiatric drugs not only fail to correct measurable chemical imbalances in the brain, but rather induce undesirable side effects. For example, though children on [[Ritalin]] and other psycho-stimulants become more obedient to parents and teachers,<ref name="Reclaiming">{{cite book|last=Breggin |first=Peter |title=Reclaiming Your Children: A healing Plan for a Nation in Crisis |publisher=Perseus Publishing |year=2000}}</ref> critics have noted that they can also develop abnormal movements such as tics, spasms and other involuntary movements.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://breggin.com/Newstimulants.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://breggin.com/Newstimulants.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Psychostimulants in the treatment of children diagnosed with ADHD: Risks and mechanism of action |author=Peter R. Breggin}}</ref> This has not been shown to be directly related to the therapeutic use of stimulants, but to neuroleptics.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/health/10psyche.html |title=Psychiatrists, Children and Drug Industry's Role |author1=Gardiner Harris |author2=Benedict Carey |author3=Janet Roberts |date=May 10, 2007 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 21, 2017 |archive-date=October 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016134239/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/health/10psyche.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-05-01-atypical-drugs_x.htm |title=New antipsychotic drugs carry risks for children |author=Marilyn Elias |others=Contributing: Susan O'Brian |date=May 2, 2006 |newspaper=USA Today |access-date=2017-08-24 |archive-date=2012-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504031243/http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-05-01-atypical-drugs_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The diagnosis of [[attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]] on the basis of inattention to compulsory schooling also raises critics' concerns regarding the use of psychoactive drugs as a means of unjust [[social control]] of children.<ref name="Reclaiming" />

The influence of pharmaceutical companies is another major issue for the anti-psychiatry movement. As many critics from within and outside of psychiatry have argued, there are many financial and professional links between psychiatry, regulators, and pharmaceutical companies. Drug companies routinely fund much of the research conducted by psychiatrists, advertise medication in psychiatric journals and conferences, fund psychiatric and healthcare organizations and health promotion campaigns, and send representatives to lobby general physicians and politicians. [[Peter Breggin]], Sharkey, and other investigators of the psycho-pharmaceutical industry maintain that many psychiatrists are members, shareholders or special advisors to pharmaceutical or associated regulatory organizations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gosden |first1=Richard |last2=Beder |first2=Sharon |name-list-style=amp |url=http://www.herinst.org/sbeder/corppower/pharm-agenda.html |title=Pharmaceutical Industry Agenda Setting in Mental Health Policies |journal=Ethical Human Sciences and Services |volume=3 |issue=3 |date=Fall–Winter 2001 |pages=147–159 |pmid=15278977 |doi=10.1891/1523-150X.3.3.147 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |access-date=25 February 2013 |archive-date=23 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523235807/http://www.herinst.org/sbeder/corppower/pharm-agenda.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Thomas Ginsberg |url=http://mindfreedom.org/campaign/media/mf/inquirer-on-drug-firms/ |title=Donations tie drug firms and nonprofits |newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |date=28 May 2006 |access-date=25 February 2013 |archive-date=30 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130194827/http://mindfreedom.org/campaign/media/mf/inquirer-on-drug-firms/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

There is evidence that research findings and the prescribing of drugs are influenced as a result. A United Kingdom cross-party [[Requests and inquiries#Parliamentary_inquiry|parliamentary inquiry]] into the influence of the pharmaceutical industry in 2005 concludes: "The influence of the pharmaceutical industry is such that it dominates clinical practice"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhealth/42/42.pdf |title=House of Commons Health Committee: The Influence of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Fourth Report of Session 2002–2005) |page=100 |access-date=2017-08-30 |archive-date=2017-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623130001/https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhealth/42/42.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and that there are serious regulatory failings resulting in "the unsafe use of drugs; and the increasing medicalization of society".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhealth/42/42.pdf |title=House of Commons Health Committee: The Influence of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Fourth Report of Session 2002–2005) |page=101 |access-date=2017-08-30 |archive-date=2017-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623130001/https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhealth/42/42.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The campaign organization ''No Free Lunch'' details the prevalent acceptance by medical professionals of free gifts from pharmaceutical companies and the effect on psychiatric practice.<ref name="no free lunch">{{cite web |url=http://www.nofreelunch.org/ |title=No Free Lunch (main page) |access-date=2014-01-13 |website=Nofreelunch.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140105151357/http://www.nofreelunch.org/ |archive-date=5 January 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The ghostwriting of articles by pharmaceutical company officials, which are then presented by esteemed psychiatrists, has also been highlighted.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1101680,00.html |title=Revealed: how drug firms 'hoodwink' medical journals &#124; Society &#124; The Observer |newspaper=The Observer |access-date=2006-03-21 |archive-date=2006-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060502162854/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1101680,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Systematic reviews have found that trials of psychiatric drugs that are conducted with pharmaceutical funding are several times more likely to report positive findings than studies without such funding.<ref name="NIHCM 2001">{{cite web |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Prescription+Drug+Expenditures+in+2001:+Another+Year+of+Escalating+Costs&publication_year=2002& |publisher=National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation |title=Prescription Drug Expenditures in 2001: A report by The National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation (May 2002): Another Year of Escalating Costs |access-date=2022-09-08 |archive-date=2022-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908170524/https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Prescription+Drug+Expenditures+in+2001:+Another+Year+of+Escalating+Costs&publication_year=2002& |url-status=live }}</ref>

The number of psychiatric drug prescriptions have been increasing at an extremely high rate since the 1950s and show no sign of abating.<ref name="Whitaker" /> In the United States antidepressants and tranquilizers are now the top selling class of prescription drugs, and neuroleptics and other psychiatric drugs also rank near the top, all with expanding sales.<ref name="NIHCM 2001" /> As a solution to the apparent conflict of interests, critics propose legislation to separate the pharmaceutical industry from the psychiatric profession.

[[John Read (psychologist)|John Read]] and [[Bruce E. Levine]] have advanced the idea of socioeconomic status as a significant factor in the development and prevention of mental disorders such as schizophrenia and have noted the reach of pharmaceutical companies through industry sponsored websites as promoting a more biological approach to mental disorders, rather than a comprehensive biological, psychological and social model.<ref name=LevineAlterNet /><ref name=Read>{{cite journal|last=Read |first=John |author-link=John Read (psychologist) |title=Can Poverty Drive You Mad? 'Schizophrenia', Socio-Economic Status and the Case for Primary Prevention |journal=New Zealand Journal of Psychology |year=2010 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=7–19 |url=http://www.psychology.org.nz/cms_show_download.php?id=966 |access-date=8 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208205223/http://www.psychology.org.nz/cms_show_download.php?id=966 |archive-date=8 February 2013 }}</ref>