Sorry to ignore for you so long, but real life got in the way as I’m sure it has for you as well. Hope you had a rewarding and enjoyable Christmas.
I’m gonna presume that you are in the business? You are sounding much more like somebody who has seen the industry publications. And if you know that the drug companies give out the best goodies then you’ve either been on one side of the other of the drug reps or the medical convention circuit.
I’m sorry but I can’t take MSNBC as a source for any facts since they aren’t sourcing them at a level remotely close to being verifiable. One third of attackers were seen by a mental health professional? Which attackers are they including? Who counts as a professional? I don’t think they are helping anybodies argument other than some generalities about this not being an everyday occurrence.
Instead of arguing about who was and was not taking which drugs (you claim one thing, I claim to have seen another), I’d rather end on a point of agreement. I’ve got two very close family members working in Northern NJ in two of the largest pharma companies and both work in the marketing/development arena (the MBA types who put together the materials and instructions you probably get handed). I’m not somebody antagonistic to the industry as a whole or have some conspiratorial theories. I know they are in it for the money and that money is made mostly by creating products which are beneficial enough for the public to pay for. I could even go on about parallel importation and the EU plans for collective pricing which would hurt France but be great for Italy and England or inventory leakage from African nations back into US markets.
I’ve actually spoken with some fairly big names in the research end, mostly neurologists, who have spent a lot of time working on SSRIs. While they almost uniformly believe that these drugs are more beneficial than harmful, none of them have anywhere near the certainty that you do that behavior is predictable on them. I’m not talking about heretics or guys who turned on their masters and are now expert witnesses for plaintiffs lawyers. These were all people who practiced still and made a substantial portion of their income from this research.
And if there is one thing there is consensus on it is that these drugs are being overprescribed. I like physicians, generally. But I think you would probably agree that they are undereducated about the effects and interactions of this class of drugs. I would bet that you know more about them than about 90% of practicing physicians. And that creates a sad or dangerous situation in that you are more qualified to point out who should NOT be using these drugs than the people who have the script pads.
Nobody - regardless of their brilliance or arrogance - could possibly prove without question that SSRIs did or did not cause any individual mass killing. The studies cannot disprove it and circumstantial evidence cannot prove that it was THE reason. I’d predict that sometime in the next decade we’ll see a jury deciding this. And in a civil trial, even ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ is above the standard needed for evidentiary proof. 12 (relatively) reasonable people will listen to the experts and look at the circumstances and make decision. And neither of us will be on that jury since we are both unqualified on the grounds of prior bias.
Have a good new year! Thanks for the entertaining discuss.
Perhaps I portrayed a certainty which I do not have. I know for certain that people's behavior is not predictable on them. I am fairly certain that they don't cause homicidal rampages ex nihilo.
And if there is one thing there is consensus on it is that these drugs are being overprescribed.
I'm not sure there is a class of drug which is not overprescribed. But this seems to be one of the more blatantly overused (neck and neck with "ADHD" meds).
I’m gonna presume that you are in the business?
Guilty as charged. Rep. But not for an SSRI (or even antidepressant or antipsychotic). My medicine kind of rubs up on their areas, however, so I need to know a bit about it.
Thanks for the entertaining discuss.
You as well. Have a great new year and I hope your Christmas was as enjoyable as mine.