The Essay by Lacasse and Leo
demonstrates clearly how consumer advertisingin all fields of medicine, not only
psychiatrycan at the least be
misleading, making patients choose treatments that may not be the best choice in each particular circumstance. I agree with the authors that the serotonin hypothesis does not fully explain the mechanism of the serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the treatment of anxiety disorders and depression.
In my clinical treatment of patients, consumer advertising is not only not helpful but often causes significant management problems. In addition, consumer advertising only focuses on expensive, patented
medications and not on equally good generic alternatives. A good example is the consumer advertising of the purple pill, Nexium, while generic Prilosec, equally effective in almost all patients, is not advertised.
Let''s prohibit all consumer advertising of patented medications. It will save physicians much headache, and patients or their insurers a great deal of money.