something fishy about my local Mental Health Service

The more I attend my Mental Health service through outpatients,the more I feel can't trust the place.

I have noticed(not that I am promoting the use of Benzodiazepines)
In my case (Lorazepam)Ativan.The Psychs are totally against it and have tried many scare tactics to stop me using it"It's bad for your Liver,it's no good for your Brain etc".Actually I only use a small dose at night to relax and sleep.It's a mild drug IMO,but I know it can be misused

But the strange thing is they are more than happy to prescribe me with Risperidone,an Anti-Psychotic drug for a condition I don't even have or SSRI drugs.One of which causes permanent brain damage and the other a suicide risk.
Now one thing I've noticed is that they have note pads
,pens and other kinds of stationary everywhere by the drug company Risperidone.
Now are you thinking what I am?
Is this drug company sponsering my local mental health trust
in that,the more of the poison they perscribe the more funding they will get..

Does this happen ,or is it me just being Paranoid?

Drug companies give away more free crap than you can keep track of.

Pencils, pens, note-pads, watches, cups, posters, diagrams, you name it. If you can stick a drug name on it, they'll give it away.

Sometimes it comes with an order of a specific drug and drug companies will give "incentive" to order thier particular drug over a competitors to doctors, especially doctors who dont have a whole lot of money. They promise supplies of vital drugs or funding if they use thier products.

One of my friends works in a doctors office. She says they use the stuff to avoid spending money on office supplies.

Its not the most honest system in the world, but its all we got for the moment.

a Doc you can't trust wrote:The more I attend my Mental Health service through outpatients,the more I feel can't trust the place.

I have noticed(not that I am promoting the use of Benzodiazepines)
In my case (Lorazepam)Ativan.The Psychs are totally against it and have tried many scare tactics to stop me using it"It's bad for your Liver,it's no good for your Brain etc".Actually I only use a small dose at night to relax and sleep.It's a mild drug IMO,but I know it can be misused

But the strange thing is they are more than happy to prescribe me with Risperidone,an Anti-Psychotic drug for a condition I don't even have or SSRI drugs.One of which causes permanent brain damage and the other a suicide risk.
Now one thing I've noticed is that they have note pads
,pens and other kinds of stationary everywhere by the drug company Risperidone.
Now are you thinking what I am?
Is this drug company sponsering my local mental health trust
in that,the more of the poison they perscribe the more funding they will get..

Does this happen ,or is it me just being Paranoid?

of course this happens.

do some research and you'll find a mountain of evidence where pharma companies are paying kickbacks and proving all sorts of incentives to doctors/clinics if they prescribe their drug.

the entire feild of medicine has been corrupted by pharmaceutical companies drive for increased profits at the expense of the patients health.

Stationary and pens get thrown around by large companies like candy. It's advertising, but it's not the big concern.

More disconcerting is how many continuing education intensives are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, and that they are biased. I read about this somewhere, I think in a medical journal. Unfortunately, I don't remember where, so I hardly demand that you take my word for it.

While researching drugs, focus on independant clinical studies, and peer-reviewed journals.

Having been on both sides of the fence--that is to say I've worked both for community mental health/private pay residential and have taken medication for depression--I have so many thoughts, concerns and horror stories lingering in my brain that it is difficult to encourage people to seek treatment.

That said, I also have a couple of "acquaintances" who work for Pfizer and other well=known Pharmaceutical companies as "drug reps." I have made these contacts through various employment related conferences, luncheons, etc.

Of the two different types of settings for mental health/substance abuse, the private pay facility was by far more corrupt than that which received government grants. This is likely due to all of the hoops you have to jump through in terms of paperwork, auditing, etc. in exchange for the grant money. It is a much safer environment in my opinion simply because it is regulated.

I found it a bit odd that the private facility (both of whose names I will withhold) was not saturated with the wealth of accoutrements such as pens, sticky notes, staplers and calendars with names like Campral, Risperadol, Cymbalta, Lexapro, Zoloft and even the newest form of Alprazolam (Xanax) manufactured by Schwarz/Pharma, called Niravam, which are orally disintegrating tablets for those who cannot be bothered with water when a panic attack strikes. Their brochure, which brags the drugs ability to "Wind Down Anxiety," includes a quiz for one to self-determine the presence of possibly GAD--or Generalized Anxiety Disorder--and several asides with quips like, "Symptoms often date back to childhood..." in the margins.

The marketing of 'new' drugs, with the same active ingredient but directed toward a different category of people, is despicable. For example, how many of you remember the drug Sarafem? Boasting its ability to treat PMDD, or Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, the active ingredient Fluoxitine is the exact replica of the antidepressant Prozac. The overtly feminine marketing done by Wyeth, or whichever company it was, was supposed to account for the drugs huge price boost (nearly triple the cost of Prozac).

I don't want to bore anyone by going on and on, so I'll just mention one more thing here; the previous poster who spoke about drug companies being held accountable for being deceptive is absolutely correct.

In fact, at a recent luncheon I attended (fabulously catered, I might add), Bristol Myers Squibb's Medical Science Liaison (former pharmacist made her a delightful new twist to the usual rep who is less credible due to lack of medical experience) gave what must have been her first presentation for the company's new drug, EMSAM. She was a young, cute Vietnamese girl whose mispronunciations of medical terms only had the Psychiatrists giggling flirtatiously as they blotted their mouths with napkins to catch lingering remnants of turkey-avocado rollups.

This drug is an MAOI (monoamine oxidase inhibitor for those who don't know much about them accept for the fact that it seems as if most other drugs are contra-indicated with an MAOI according to the literature accompanying the drug and the commercials that follow.

I did learn a lot from this conference, such as the reasons for not taking MAOI’s, which has something to do with the limitations of certain foods from one’s diet containing tyramine, which is found in red wine, certain meats and very potently in cheese, especially the really strong, smelly cheeses. The combination causes hypertensive crisis/blood pressure surges. However, the marketing strategy here is the introduction of EMSAM, which is ingested a different way, therefore bypassing the stomach and eliminating the risk. Look it up on the web for more in-depth info.

The point I was going to make before I trailed off was that this girl was so naïve, she actually answered the doctor’s question about “off label use,” which is highly punishable and under investigation right now with drug companies nationwide, flippantly, with a wink-wink sort of move. The girls seated on the sidelines, who were more experienced reps, winced at the suggestion/gesture of their coworker. No one else seemed to notice.

Sorry for the long post folks! I’m unemployed, and yet somehow I find the time for this inane blathering. Oh well. Maybe it will help someone.

Shay Sweet wrote:
The point I was going to make before I trailed off was that this girl was so naïve, she actually answered the doctor’s question about “off label use,” which is highly punishable and under investigation right now with drug companies nationwide, flippantly, with a wink-wink sort of move. The girls seated on the sidelines, who were more experienced reps, winced at the suggestion/gesture of their coworker. No one else seemed to notice.

Oooh, do tell me more about off label use since as I a minor I know pretty much all of the meds I were on were prescribed off label...