Researchers have nailed down financial ties between drug makers and more than half of the psychiatrists involved in creating the diagnostic manual for mental illnesses. All of the psychiatrists involved in the manual's sections regarding severe mental illnesses had financial ties of some sort with drug makers. In most cases, the psychiatrists received research funds.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, or DSM, has been enormously influential in determining treatments and coverage for people with mental illnesses. And the DSM has been repeatedly criticized for expanding the categories of mental illness in ways that have significantly driven drug usage. A number of psychiatrists, though, scoffed at the notion that the drug makers held undue influence in the formation of the DSM.
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