January 7, 2010
Only the U.S. and New Zealand have policies that allow advertisers to sell prescription drugs, durable medical goods, and even medical tests by appealing to consumers to be informed and ask their doctors to ‘prescribe’ specific drugs and therapies. On the one hand, these ads provide an opportunity for consumers to learn about different treatments. They also may reduce the sense that particular symptoms or conditions are unusual or embarrassing. For example, depression has long been a stigmatized condition. DTCA have undoubtedly played a large part in making us feel like the prevalence of depression is much greater than we might otherwise think. That might make us more willing to tell our doctor about our symptoms and seek help with them. On the other hand, DTCA have been faulted for providing a lot of content about the benefits of particular prescription drugs or treatments and providing very little information about possible harms.
If we find ourselves learning something new about health from DTCA, we should look for the content to give us a balanced review. Companies want to make profits. They won’t make profit by harming us, but they may make profit by persuading us that our life will be better if only we take a pill…
This topic has always been of interest to me. Before reading this post, I didn’t really see a lot of positives to prescription drug advertising. Seeing how it seems to make people more aware and accepting of a stigmatized condition such as depression is definitely a positive. But again, advertisements are meant to sell a product, and prescription medication should not be treated as something marketed to the masses to sell as much of a product as possible. The rise in prescription drug use in the U.S. goes hand and hand with the increase of these advertisements, and I feel that as a society we are very highly and unnecessarily medicated. I have witnessed many friends who have been prescribed antidepressants from ages as young as 9 become dependent and suffer the serious side effects of these medications. It is an interesting phenomenon and i would definitely like to see research about how these advertisements impact the people they reach.
I find it particularly interesting that ONLY the U.S. and New Zealand have these policies allowing advertisers to persuade consumers to “ask their doctors about” these drugs. I feel as if these ads may trigger some type of thought process for those who believe they have “something wrong” with them to go ahead and self-diagnose, which then leads to them asking the doctors about the particular drug that they’ve seen on television or heard of on the radio. One of the biggest problems I can foresee in the future, is when everyone becomes their own doctor, because we are all “experts” now after hearing advertisements for drugs & treatments and able to diagnose our own problems with the aid of the internet. This could be a scary day!
I agree, as Roxanne Parrott has stated, the DTCA may alleviate anxiety about the medical condition featured in the add and help a patient feel more comfortable initiating a conversation with their physician concerning similar symptoms or conditions. However, The government requirement concerning the “possible” side effects of the drug featured in the DTCA often leaves the strongest impression with me…as in “if my doctor ever proposes I take that medication, I will say NO!”…and then get out of that office as fast as I can!
DTCA definitely has the advantage of affecting our emotions in powerful ways. For one thing, these ads are coming directly into our living rooms right in the middle of our “down time”. Time that we have probably set aside to relax and unwind from the day. A time to sift through much of the days agenda and evaluate how it all went.
Dr. Parrott reminds us that DTCA is touching that place in all of us that asks, “Could things be better?” Maybe this pill would “fix everything”. The advice to investigate the content is EXACTLY what we should be doing with our health issues. A proactive stand rather than a reactive stand to our specific health needs.