At least it was on the front page and I'm sure ghostwriting will be news to some in the general public if not to medical news junkies like those here reading this blog. Still it is true that the people who get to write these stories up in mainstream media do seem to be incredible neophytes stumbling on to all this for the first time when it's all been out there for years.

"Industry influence--hidden and overt--is pervasive in the medical literature and this fact has been well-known for a long time."

Since psychiatric is treating people prescribing psych-drugs to patients we can say that pharmaceutical industry is what is really treating people.
And treating badly.

I have already seen a psychiatrist receiving the material from the lab. "Oh! Few side effects! No This is so good."
It's a sad to say the least.

Once again: I'm starting to ask psychiatrist to speak on behalf of their patients and there is no other way of doing so without talking about their practice having ties with pharmaceutical industry.

Great points you illustrated in this post that others who have addressed this issue to fail to do- reflect on the history of this terrible deceptive practice.

When I wrote about corrupt clinical trials, I had a well known doctor at Johns Hopkins send me a personal email letting me know that this practice has been occuring at least since the 1950s.

It astonishes me every time I hear anyone refer to the NYT as "liberal." I see it as a bastion of the status quo.

My dad was a news journalist, as was his brother. I once told him I'd been thinking about the news media and had come to the conclusion that, while the reporters might be liberal, the publishers decide what gets printed. And aren't they rich people who benefit from the status quo? He got a funny look on his face and said "Yes, you've got it."

Chalk up another reason why the MSM is dying.

I have to say this NYT article is definitely news. To read that the pharmaceutical industry, doctors, and medical studies are corrupt and false _in the New York Times_ is akin, for me, to hearing a death knell toll for Western civilization. I have read plenty of arguments, opinions, and speculation that the medical establishment is crooked and not to be trusted, but even for someone familiar with the dark underbelly of our society's glossy surfaces, it is so easy to contain these rantings as merely fringe -- one side (ie. the "anti-psychiatry" movement label) of an ongoing debate. This article really lifts the curtain on the Wizards who work every day to orchestrate the establishment's public image for Americans and the world. It really feels like a moment of "Game's up". This is a seminal moment for all of those voices who have cried foul on psychiatry all these years -- including and especially the mentally ill-labelled themselves, who are so often and easily discounted and disempowered by the community of care that is supposedly in place to facilitate their healing and wellness. I hope this article marks the beginning of a society-wide vindication for the disenfranchised mentally ill, who are often so vulnerable and deprived of any say-so or rights, who suffer daily in the cracks and interstices and outlying dead-zones of our cultural tapestry, and, it now seems undeniable to say, have been so awfully wronged, lied to, destroyed by a system which at face value existed to help them. On pain of revealing my own persistent desire and need to place faith in those who represent our society -- e.g. doctors, media, government -- I must say that this article should be a revelation for all who read it, not just the neophytes and uninformed, and not excluding all those who have become so jaded by all the lies they can no longer recognize a true victory when it happens.

Very eloquent comment, Stephanie, and thanks for reminding us that this is indeed an important moment when a paper like the NYTimes draws front page attention to these issues. It's easy to become jaded and we shouldn't in the face of these milestones.