"Treating Bipolar Disorder Takes Understanding". But that requires too much effort on our part, so just take our pills.

And WEARING TOP-TO-TOE RED and having PERT BUTTOCKS are clearly also matters of concern.

I just saw one of these in the Printer's Row neighborhood in Chicago. Come to think of it, I think I have seen more of these ads now than actual phone booths. The same day, just for the hell of it, I took 4 internet quizzes to see if I was bipolar, depressed, schizophrenic, and ADHD. Positive on all but schizophrenia!

Philip, as I understand it, you don't like the drug manufacturer's promoting their product.
The idea being a susceptible person see the adv. goes to their doctor. The doctor of course prescribes it due to the patient matching the symptoms/reasons for prescription of XYZ drug.

In antibiotics, drugs no longer work due to the overuse of them (Antibiotic Overuse)
http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002561.html
"According to the CDC, tens of millions of the antibiotics are prescribed in doctors' offices for viral infections that are not treatable with antibiotics. Doctors cite diagnostic uncertainty, time pressure, and patient demand as the primary reasons for their tendency to over-prescribe antibiotics."

Doctors wanting to please their patient, (and make some money) prescribe medicine that does not help their patient, yet continue to prescribe on the individual basis, not looking at the big picture of antibiotic resistant drugs resulting.

I think it is the fault of the doctors who prescribe the pills. It may be human nature to want to help, but doctors are supposed to be smarter than following their emotions and instead follow hard scientific proof of disease and the methods to treat it.

Which goes back to the fraudulent proofs from manufacturer's that are accepted by doctors.
Why do Dr's accept their proofs?
Because there is no way to prove anything is or isn't in a persons (nonphysical)mind.

yep, mark, i don't like these or other psych meds being advertised dtc. it preys on vulnerable folks. other countries don't allow dtc ads, these drugs are used at much lower rates and their societies seem to move along as well as before. and so on.

also congrats to mark. you are the 2000th commenter on this blog.

If only doctors know best which medication is best for which patient's woes - and that is the rationale why abilify is prescription only - then it stands to reason that it is not only unusual but also unethical for pharma companies to market drugs in such a way as to run the risk of improperly influencing doctors' decisions.

It's not fair to patients because it may make them pine for unwarranted treatments, and it's not fair to doctors because it could easily complicate doctor patients relationships when they have to explain to patients why what abilify or whatever else is not the best solution to their problems, whatever they may have been told elsewhere.

I think it's a good question whether such direct to consumer advertising for heavy duty psychotropics doesn't prove that pharma companies hold both the patients who swallow their products and doctors who prescribe them in contempt, as they do appear to be unnecessarily and gratuitously making life more difficult for both of them.

But when pharma companies conceal fatal side-effects of medications from patients and doctors reckoning that it is cheaper to settle the meritorious lawsuits that will result, it's already clear that they hold patients and doctors in contempt.

Mark--

You illustrate JUST how complicated our system of healthcare treatment has become. If DTC ads promoted real communication between doctor and patient, they would, perhaps, have some validity. Instead, they offer patients "hope" for a quick fix, and doctors make more money by quickly prescribing a pill and ushering in "next patient." Many also operate from a position of undue authority: "If you don't do what I tell you--find a new doctor." Now THAT'S a surefire encouragement of doctor-patient cooperation.

Still, doctors are the ones without whom legal drugs could not be consumed. I CANNOT excuse their disregard of patients in their pursuit of profitability and entitlement.

Lots of culprits. Take a look at "Too Profitable to Cure" dot com website. Doctors and pharmaceuticals aren't the ONLY ones who need some sunshine focused on their questionable tactics.

DTC marketing for drugs/illness makes me angry and also very much amuses me. The swag they come up with is truly inventive. My favorite would be the box of facial tissues in my psychologist's office. For a while it was covered in lexapro propaganda and now it's cymbalta. In marketingese, that's one heck of a qualified impression. It's also evil, but I'm sure they have internal training that convinces employees otherwise.

Ruth,
I just have to say your comment about 'pert buttocks' makes me laugh.
I want to know what the next ad campaign will depict: think it will show the lady in red letting her hairdown, to blow freely in the wind, once she gains understanding and peace of mind from Abilify use?

This evening,I stopped at a gas station and went inside to buy doritos and Kendall- Jackson.

The 2 male clerks start telling me about:

1. "Wellbutrin heals liver of alcoholics."

I say: "That's an antidepressant."

Clerk: "Well it's for smokers, but it cures alcoholics, and their livers."

Now, I am thinking, why did I stop at a gas station for booze. I get an off- the- wall lecture from a clerk.

THEN the 2nd male clerk shouts:

"I hate those TV ads! WHY would I watch TV and go tell my doctor what to take? wouldn't my doctor know?"

Now I think, I have died and gone to heaven; a platform for a speech about pharma at a gas station quick shop for DTC advertising? Yes! I love my life.

We had a [weird] and lengthy discussion,[I covered off-label use and included a discussion about this phone booth ad] and the one pissed off about the DTC ads: "This should be outlawed!"

I told them to google cheerleaders and pharma reps for fun.

Stephany -

Yes, she'll definitely let her hair down, dye it black, iron it straight, and dye her clothes black as well. She'll probably get a few piercings and the pert buttocks will go the way of 'toast arse' (a nice way on-campus lads down under have of referring to the fact that most women put on a bit of weight when they move out of home & into college). Then she'll start hanging around in alternative clubs, smoking enough dope to kill a hundred Mormons who can't believe they've finally been invited in to someone's house for 'cookies', listening to dark, depressing music, and carving the names of latest crushes on the inside of her arms. By this time the psychs will have added Depakote, Lexapro and God knows what else to the mix, there'll be suicide attempts and hospitalisations, and there she is, a chronic mental patient. Then she'll need some serious understanding, and that's all that'll be blowin' in the wind.

ha! Oh my God that is the best post ever written here Ruth!