Heads up, everyone! Something big is coming next week. It concerns psychiatry's blockbuster drug - the antidepressant. This thread breaks down what’s about to happen, why it matters & what’s at stake 👇
1. Next week a major study will be published by some of the biggest names in drug-company-funded psychiatry; many with track records of minimising antidepressant withdrawal. It’s expected to downplay withdrawal, based on flawed, mostly short-term studies - many pharma-funded.
2. The Science Media Centre (which also receives pharma funding) will host a closed-door press briefing next Tuesday, to promote the paper; inviting top UK health journalists. Who's on the panel? Mostly industry-linked experts who are expected to agree with or praise the paper.
3. By Thursday, the UK media will be saturated with that praise, running headlines downplaying antidepressant withdrawal: e.g. 'Antidepressant withdrawal - not a big deal'. The flaws in the study? Rarely mentioned. The financial conflicts of interest? Almost never disclosed.
4. Then, in the days that follow, comes a familiar cycle: independent experts, researchers & lived experience voices will scramble to respond; highlighting the flaws & conflicts the media were not made fully privy to or overlooked. But by then, the story will have taken hold.
5. The media will move on. But the headlines will stick. And the public is left misinformed, again, while recalcitrant policy makers will cite this study for years to justify doing nothing to reduce harms. This isn’t a one-off. It’s a pattern; we've seen it play out for years.
6. In the end, I hope I am wrong about the study. I’ve not seen it in full whole yet. But based on previous experience, I'm sure it will play out as above, given the people and instutions involved and their track record....
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
