Furious Seasons

January 08, 2009

Marcia Angell Kicks Ass

The former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, Marcia Angell, has a piece in a recent issue of the New York Review of Books talking about the various crazy news around psychiatry, corruption in the medical field and discussing Alison Bass' Side Effects (Paxil book), Christopher Lane's Shyness (about the craziness of the DSM and social anxiety disorder) and Melody Peterseon's Our Daily Meds (how Big Pharma creates new disorders of every kind.

It's a fine article which breaks no new ground, but nonetheless reaches an extremely influential dorky intellectual audience in the progressive-liberal world who could probably benefit from knowing all of this. So read it for yourself.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at January 8, 2009 12:05 AM

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Comments

She wrote a great book as well about 4 or 5 years ago: "The Truth About The Drug Companies"

Posted by: Dan at January 8, 2009 06:46 AM

Yes, yes, yes. She does an excellent job here. Could the DSM finally be relegated to the same bookshelf as Crowley's General Principles of Astrology? (Sorry astrologists, you guys may well be more legit)

She writes:

"Given its importance, you might think that the DSM represents the authoritative distillation of a large body of scientific evidence. But Lane, using unpublished records from the archives of the American Psychiatric Association and interviews with the princi-pals, shows that it is instead the product of a complex of academic politics, personal ambition, ideology, and, perhaps most important, the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. What the DSM lacks is evidence." http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22237

The article also provides a good overview of similar problems in legitimate medical fields.

Posted by: Sally at January 8, 2009 07:43 AM

as you said this article breaks no new ground except that it's written by somebody from the inside who has credibility on the inside. I was very excited to see it on Sunday.

Posted by: Gianna at January 8, 2009 08:39 AM

I didn't know specifically who the target audience was, until Philip described it :), but I too was glad for the added publicity.

Posted by: Andy Alt at January 8, 2009 08:53 AM

Good post, but Novalis scooped you on this. Which is my unlovely way of asking if it's time to update your blogroll. Ars Psychiatria is the shit, up and coming daily fix.

http://arspsychiatrica.blogspot.com/

Posted by: flawedplan at January 8, 2009 09:27 AM

In the struggle to end abusive treatment in the American mental health system (and in the mental health systems of other countries as well), I think it's important and necessary even that no dorky intellectuals be left behind.

Posted by: Kent at January 8, 2009 11:47 AM

"...various crazy news around psychiatry, corruption in the medical field..."
I like when the right concept is used. Why use "conflict of interests"?
Corruption is the right word.

Posted by: Ana at January 8, 2009 02:17 PM

I've read Alison Bass's book Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and A Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial. It was published mid-2008 and she credited Marcia Angell's The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It (2004) as a reference in the bibliography.

The book is great and I highly recommend it. Unfortunately the truth can be a little disturbing for those not used to it.

Posted by: Andy Alt at January 8, 2009 02:46 PM