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sberman's picture

commercials and googling symptoms

Submitted by sberman on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 4:08pm.

I definitely agree with Claire here- I read an article awhile back about patients coming to psychiatrists, not just asking to be put on antidepressants/SSRI's, but asking to be given a prescription for a particular drug they saw advertised on TV. And could this lead to another problem--patients consciously or unconsciously tailoring their symptoms to those discussed in the advertisement in order to get the drug, which they may view as quicker fix than talk therapy/CBT?

Furthermore, I think that googling illnesses or symptoms on the internet and then thinking you are afflicted with the disorder/disease that pops up is a problem for both mental and physical illnesses. Though with mental illnesses, maybe its more of an issue since the symptoms are more frequently based on the patient's report rather than on laboratory tests (which are used for some, but not all, physical illnesses). 

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