Does the fact that antipsychotics are so expensive have anything to do with this?

Glad to see Zyprexa wasn't the number one atypical. Seroquel was.

It totally does, David! Antipsychotics are the #1 top class of drugs by sales -- but they don't even make the top 15 list by numbers of prescriptions.

However, two individual antipsychotics make the Top 15 list for prescriptions of a single drug: Seroquel is #5 and Abilify is #12. Two antidepressants make that list: Effexor XR and Lexapro. Probably the most expensive ones, natch.

While it is true that the new atypical antipsychotics are being used for depression [they are half SSRI], it is also true that the number of people diagnosed as "bipolar" has also increased.

Here is what www.SSRIstories.com has to say about this.

http://www.ssristories.com/show.php?item=1319

Second sentence of second paragraph reads: "Without the need for an episode of hospitalization for mania, estimates of the prevalence of bipolar disorder have increased significantly from 1% in 1994, to 2.6% in 2005."

With the population of the U.S. now at 300 million, the rate of bipolar disorder has increased by 4.8 million people in the U.S. in the last 11 years. It is the opinion of SSRI Stories advocates that the majority of this increase has occurred because of the massive antidepressant use in this country. People are going "manic" on their antidepressants and then being diagnosed as "bipolar".

http://www.pharmaceutical-business-review.com/article_feature.asp?guid=7C5EF4E7-F53F-41C3-BD5A-E637D0211BFD

New hope for manic-depression sufferers comes from unlikely source
21st November 2006
By PBR Staff Writer

Antipsychotics are being prescribed to many people having adverse reactions to antidepressants -- what a racket! But seriously this is a frightening statistic.

Rosie said 'People are going "manic" on their antidepressants and then being diagnosed as "bipolar".'

That's what happened to me and of course the medical response was to claim this was merely the first appearance of my pre-existing condition. There was no evidence to support that conclusion and, with one exception, all my manic episodes were immediately preceded by treatment for depression. Nothing like manufacturing lifelong customer relationships!

The comment about how damned expensive the atypicals are hits the mark. In just this last year, Zyprexa has increased in price by over 10%!!

The real cost of these meds is just pennies of the dollars you pay for them.
And when the profits from pills go down, where should Pharma next look for profit? This PriceWaterhouseCoopers pdf says the next big cash cow should be vaccines.
http://www.pwc.com/gx/eng/about/ind/pharma/pharma2020final.pdf

Yes, you need to go by prescriptions, not by sales. The only psychiatric drug I saw on the prescriptions list was Xanax (alprazolam). You can't go by sales which include institutional sales.

Philip Dawdy reponds: both sets of data are relevant.

Zyprexa goes off patent in 2011. Betcha' they will pull a Seroquel XR move and try to have its purpose extended to some other thing. Wonder what they'll pick?

I am having restlessness and sleeplessness on Abilify at 10 mg. Should I discontinue it or decrease dosage? Taking is for bipolar and major depression not totally helped by antidepressants.

it's nice to see the drug companies can make all this money selling poison. if patients could buy antipychs, mdma, and heroin over the counter, which do you think they would choose? it's a shame this country as become so dumbed down in such a short period of time. and it's rather amazing too. it makes us understand how someone like hitler came to power; and how american can elect such poor leaders. maybe the so called "negative symptoms" are smart people who don't want to participate in a bullshit society.