Furious Seasons

June 30, 2008

Pfizer Targets Cape Codders With Depression Mongering

A fascinating op-ed ran in the Boston Globe last week and I'll quote from it a bit and you'll get what's going on here. The gist is that Pfizer sponsored a survey of Cape Cod residents and found that 43 percent showed symptoms of depression, not depression as it's clinically understood which would've hit perhaps 7 percent to 10 percent of Cape residents. Pfizer makes Zoloft.

"This study was conducted only on the Cape, and it used a survey created by pharma giant Pfizer, which has a financial interest in the number of anti-depressant prescriptions being written. And in a break from usual medical protocol, it was handed out in waiting rooms to people who, for the most part, had come to the doctor for reasons having nothing to do with getting help for depression or its symptoms.
"That was the case last fall when I went to my doctor for a persistent chest bug. Without explanation, the receptionist handed me a survey that asked whether in the past two weeks I had "been bothered" by a list of symptoms, including "feeling down," "trouble falling asleep, or sleeping too much," "feeling tired," "poor appetite or overeating," and "feeling bad about yourself."

"Setting aside that my cough and fever had brought on most of these symptoms, I was startled by the aggressiveness of the inquiry, as well as the nonchalance of its administration. Unlike more typical medical forms that ask about diseases you've had in the past, this one seemed to be looking for a condition that hadn't yet been diagnosed, for which the patient was not necessarily seeking treatment. And, unlike an effort to prevent a contagious disease from threatening the public health, this one targeted an affliction of a highly personal nature, not known to spread through physical contact, or even propinquity.

"Now, all of a sudden, the nurse taking my blood pressure and weight was reviewing my completed survey and wondering if I should talk to the doctor about it, along with my nagging cough."

The upshot is that doctors thought this was a good way to start a "conversation" with patients about depression. Pfizer is perhaps the only party to the exchange who stood to benefit.

The only conversation docs ought to have is within their own profession about how they are trying to link depression with absolutely everything and about how they are becoming a wee bit too intrusive into every aspect of their patients' lives and about how they are getting to be the equivalent of bait-and-switch salespeople: "Came in to discuss a cold? Well have I got the SSRI for you?"

It's because of episodes such as this one that I openly lie on those little screening forms doctors give you these days each time I visit a doc.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at June 30, 2008 12:03 AM

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Comments

I doubt very much this is unique to Cape Cod....

On another slightly related note I found out that my mom was offered Zoloft when my brother died. The most disturbing part is how it happened.

My step dad saw my mom's doctor before she did. The doc (a GP) asked him how my mom was doing. He said, "I think she's depressed."

My mom went into the room to see the doc next. Without even an additional follow-up question the doctor had already written out a prescription for
Zoloft and handed it to my mother upon entering the exam room. "Take this, it might help your depression."

My mom refused saying that she was sad because her son had just died. The prescription was still stuffed into her hand before she left.

UGH!

Posted by: Gianna at June 30, 2008 08:45 AM

This article scares the CRAP out of me! Why? Well.........A little over a year ago I went to my GP for my annual physical and casually mentioned I was in a mild funk from a recent miscarriage. She asked me some questions and "diagnosed" me as depressed and suggested Prozac. I certainly didn't think I was depressed, but liked the idea of a feeling better and believed this class of drug to be innocuous. Unfortunately, I had NO idea what I was in store for.

I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I went from being a fully functional, sincerely happy, self-employed business professional that was only mildly blue to.......... a severely agitated, anxious, akathasia ridden, suicidally depressed person within a week of starting the drug. I stayed on the drug for 2+ months because my GP insisted the side effects would diminish as my body got used to the drug. My GP was wrong and I continued to rapidly deteriorate to the point that my husband was considering committing me to a hospital! After I quit the drug I consulted a pdoc to find out what in the hell was going on and why the symptoms were not abating. Despite the evidence I presented that I had NO history of depression or anxiety before taking the drug, after the 45 minute consultation she diagnosed me with major depression and told me I needed to be on drugs for the rest of my life. WTF!? I escaped being poly drugged and possibly being trapped on the drug merry-go-round by the skin of my teeth by researching the side effects of SSRI’s and finding various internet support forums.

I spent at least 10 months suffering 24/7 in a state that I imagine a horrific acid trip would be like. The last few months I've seen some improvements, but I am not the same person I was before the drug fried my brain. I still suffer from many symptoms, the most prevalent being: anhedonia, depression, free floating anxiety, crying jags for no apparent reason impaired cognitive abilities/memory, insomnia, and slight dp/dr. I was NORMAL before I took the drug.

I don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else. It sends shivers down my spine to think that some poor unsuspecting soul would get put on a SSRI because they happen to have some depressive symptoms on the day they visit their doctor. EVERYONE has depressive symptoms now and then!! It pains me to think that if I had visited the doctor just a week earlier or later my family and I might have been spared the horror of this past year.

Drugs should be reserved as a last resort only!!!

Posted by: Toby at June 30, 2008 10:57 AM

Social engineering, misguided and disgraceful. As someone who tracks state legislation I see it everyday, the design of a newer, cleaner, productive and predictable human being.

The people who truly need mental help show it, whether returning vets, incested children, adults with chaotic childhoods, substance abusers, gang-bangers, people who are fucked up and can't cope, how hard is it to find them? The truly needy, obviously disturbed and self-destructive can't get help because the core problems have to do with adversity that the decision-makers prefer to ignore, and because our treatment protocols don't fit with the pharmageddon mandate. This is the population deserving of meaningful intervention; we might as well be invisible.

Posted by: flawedplan at June 30, 2008 12:02 PM

I lie on those forms also. I tell my doctor as little as I can get away with. Most of my life is none of his business and everything you tell your doctor can and will be used against you by the insurance industry.

The medical practices in my area are ALL owned by our local hospital, a hotbed of incompetence and greed. They control everything. I have no intention of giving these people anything to work with. My friend told me she went to her doc last week and, as she filled out a questionnaire they'd given her, was wondering how it had become any of his business whether she uses her seat belt. She lied.

Posted by: Sherry at June 30, 2008 07:26 PM