From Psychotherapy Finances we see the below story, excerpted briefly below:
An organization of psychologists in private practice launched a campaign today to encourage physicians to refer patients with mental health issues to a psychologist before prescribing medication for the problem.
The National Alliance of Professional Psychology Providers (NAPPP) has purchased space to run ads supporting the campaign in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. And spots will be aired on national cable TV channels starting as early as next week.
The print ad features a photograph of a man in a white lab coat handing out a blank prescription. Under it, a box in the style of cigarette warning label reads: “WARNING: Having your family physician treat depression can be harmful to your health.” read rest here
Here is the ad: (click to enlarge) — IS NOT SHOWING UP IN SOME BROWSERS — click the empty space if that is the case and it will bring you to a PDF of the photo. I’m sorry, I’m not able to figure it out at the moment. (the copy is below the empty space as well along with brief comment from me)
For the ad in pdf format see here.
The copy to the ad is here:
There is a health care crisis no one is talking about: physicians treating patients complaining of behavioral disorders with medications the doctors know, or should know, are no more effective than sugar pills. Instead of referring patients to a doctoral level mental health professional who can evaluate and correctly diagnose patients with behavioral disorders, many physicians consign their patients to long-term pharmaceutical treatment, often prescribing multiple medications that have never been tested in combination.
Physicians are well trained in treating physical diseases. But most get only a few weeks of training in diagnosing and evaluating mental illness. And the average physician has less than 90 hours of training in pharmacology. Doctoral psychologists, on the other hand, have an average of six years training beyond a bachelor’s degree plus an additional 3000 to 4000 hours of internship. So, every day, physicians, who are untrained and lack the expertise to diagnose possible mental health problems, are prescribing a drug or drugs, which do not work, for a condition the patient may not even have.
Drug companies make billions from the sale of these medications, spend vast sums on advertising to convince consumers that these drugs are the answer to their problems, and provide perks and incentives for physicians to prescribe them. This is a prescription for disaster that denies patients the proven treatment they deserve.
If this is not malpractice, it’s at the very least, bad medicine. If you are a doctoral level clinical psychologist and would like to help us build public support for more effective treatment, we invite you to visit the website for the National Alliance of Professional Psychology Providers, which paid for this ad.
Go to www.NAPPP.org
For more information on these issues, visit our website
The copy on this ad leaves much to be desired…the fact is that diagnosis as constructed today (DSM) are grossly inappropriate in almost all cases regardless of who assigns them to anyone seeking help.
Nonetheless the campaign is definitely a move in the right direction….