The field of psychiatry appears to be conducive to letting people air their beliefs and express themselves freely amongst peers.  I have come across a few situations where the discussion of what ones relationship to pharma is becomes quite heated and can even get aggressive.  The topic is getting hotter, here is another response…

These are my thoughts about it:

1) Its contradictory to ‘hate’ Pharma if you prescribe meds.  I believe medication is one of many therapies which can help people, like CAM, to resolve symptoms and help people heal themselves.   If I hated meds, I could not practice medicine.  I’ve seen it help many people, and not be as effective for others. However I think having such feelings for pharmaceutical companies is illogical.  Medication is neutral, either it helps a pt or not.

2) Pens dont determine what medication the medical team chooses to prescribe.  Though I’m a first year, I’ve noticed meds are chosen based on insurance, cost, accessibility, delivery (po, IM, liquid), what has worked/not worked in the past, past medical history, presenting problem and severity, research and the MD’s familiarity with how well the medication works.  Not a Pen.  No one appears to be at a loss over pens no longer being available, MD’s careers are not ruined because of this.  This is minor in the scope of influence peddled to the public.  If Pharma was running mind control over how MD’s prescribe via pens possibly we should re-evaluate advertising as a whole in all markets.

3) The role insurance companies play in the delivery of care is overlooked as it directly controls which meds are reimbursable or not, even if they are indicated for the medical condition.

4) This is a distraction for bigger problems we’re facing in medicine.