Yes, I've been seeing Abilify ads quite a bit over the past week or so.

They do a good job of making the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder so vague as to render them applicable to just about anyone. I think they're just one notch above GSK's "I have strange feelings in my legs" advertisements for Requip.

I have been seeing the Abilify ads all over the place for the past 10 days or so and ranting about them at my husband every time I see one. I find the ads for psychotropics profoundly disturbing.

What's next? "Abilified" sports drinks for those active, all American families.

Antipsychotics are antipychotics, are antipsychotics.

Do you really need one? is what this ad should say. Glad I don't have tv. Though the print ad shows up in Rolling Stone quite regularly.

btw Abilify was just given an expanded FDA approval covering medicating kids with more "reasons" now.

Sickening.

I was put on Abilify when I was diagnosed as Bipolar Type 2, despite telling my psych that I really have never had severe mania. She assured me that the Lamictal was to give me a floor and the Abilify was for a ceiling. So I took it. I gained over 45 pounds over the next 8 months. I worked out three times a week, started dieting, but couldn't shed the weight and couldn't figure out what was causing it. I stopped taking the Abilify this past February, and have lost about half of the weight I gained on it. I also feel fine. My psych and I were talking a few weeks ago about some behavior by some "friends" that were driving me up a wall. She suggested I go back on the Abilify, just to be less irritable. Considering the situation, I don't think I was "irritable". I was "irritated" like any normal person would have been. I don't want to be drugged to make me LESS in touch with reality. I'm considering finding a new doctor.

It's just interesting, because I've seen the pharma salespeople in her office, and she always has free samples... like it's Costco or something.

Last week I testified before the FDA's Risk Advisory Committee and focused on the impact of DTC ads on children, one of the topics of the meeting. I said that all psychotropic ads, but especially the antipsychotics, should be banned from the tube. I threw in that erectile dysfunction and personal "plumbing" ads should be relegated to the wee hours, away from children's intelligent eyes.

The Committee just stared at me and there were no questions.

jordan, it's always a good idea to get a second opinion from another doc if you have questions about your current doc. good luck

I am not a doctor, or a professional.

Jordan, please find a 2nd and 3rd opinion until you find one(person) that does not promote an antipsychotic as your "ceiling". A person that allows you to speak your mind, think alongside you and hear what you say. Remember, they are HIRED by you, and you have no other obligation. Period.(meaning you can FIRE them, walk away, call the secretary to forward your file.)

The formula that psychiatrists use (based on fine print details called pharma and key note speakers at psych conventions)that has (unfortunately, based on my experience) has been:

1. You need a mood stabilizer.(Depakote, Lamictal,Lithium)
2. You need (possibly) and anti depressant.
3. You need an antipsychotic.

In the last decade the cocktail read like this:

1. 1500 mg. Depakote per day
2. 150 mg. Zoloft per day
3. 15mg. Zyprexa per day
4.(PRN)emergency use only but take it anyway
Ativan, BuSpar,Xanax,Klonopin

NOW, it might read on your scripts:

1. 200mg Lamictal
2. Lexapro,Celexa, Cymbalta
3. Abilify (for agitation or insomnia)
4. Cogentin (for side effects)
5. Seroquel, for insomnia..

In the meantime, make sure to eat 3 meals a day, on time, sleep on time, remove stimuli: computer, tv, music, iPod, etc. You'll find that (though others may gripe) this attention paid to lifestyle and input pays off; and it does so without medications.

Doctors, & psychiatrists are highly influenced by what their peers write and say, and that is influenced by an industry that did not take the Hippocratic Oath to watch over you.

*this is just my opinion, based on my life, and experience for a decade. Do not walk out of the psych's office without a detailed overview of the fine print fact sheet that is attached to all of your meds. They are all available online; and your pharmacist has them, but will not usually add them to the bag unless you ask for it. Most every single psych med on the market has the exact side effect the drug is "supposed" to be "helping".

Agitation, insomnia, aggression, depression....the side effects that doctors tell their patients are typically, "sleepiness, dry mouth" they do not ever acknowledge the psychiatric side effects printed right on the pharma company paperwork.

Why?

ASK.

What kills me is how the ads never use the sobering term "psychiatrist", it's ask your DOCTOR if Abilify is right for you. That's where I start the yelling back and whatnot. First step is getting them in the door, the momentum takes care of itself.
Sleazy.

The root problem can not be blamed on BMS, Eli Lili nor any other major drug manufacturer. It also can't be blamed on the doctors who misdiagnose, or the government which regulates marketing. In reality everything is part of a big picture.

When I was diagnosed with psycho schizoaffective disorder, I was 21. I was at the top of my class as a straight A student at a top tier school. After spending 3 weeks in the hospital I was prescribed Zyprexa and a plethora of other drugs. I am quite familiar with the guinea pig cocktail. They worked okay but left me lethargic and unable to live in any normal way.

When I was in the hospital for the second time, I spent nearly twice the amount of time than the first time. I could hardly even recognize my own mother. It was frightening for everyone. I lost many friends, yet, luckily had a lot of loving family members there to help me.

Now I know that there is a lot of cooky stuff that goes around. But to be honest, I don't think I could live my life without Abilify. I've only been on it for two years and was first diagnosed eight years ago. It has been a very long time since I've felt alive and all cheeziness aside I owe this to BMS. And I feel that I am completely coherent (I wouldn't have been even able to write anything that made sense after the hospital stay).

So for the sake of argument, who is there to blame? When I went through my hard times, I had a lot of problems dealing with the diagnosis and wanted to find reasons to be angry. When in reality, it is what it is. The only thing left I had to deal with was me. Of course what I mean by that is not that I blame myself, but I leave it up to me to decide what to do to make my life better given the circumstances. About 1/3 of those diagnosed with what I have never recover. Again, I know it's not right for everyone, and my diagnosis is not bipolar, but at least for those that it is right for...