You don't see any advertisements on the site?

WOW, I wish I could do that!!!!!

I'm opposed to medication advertising in general... I think that if we want INFORMED consumers and doctors then the data should be presented in an accessible way. I think that ADVERTISING isn't INFORMATION so much as PROPAGANDA, however. It encourages people to make decisions on the basis of cognitive biases and emotional associations that everybody is subject to.

I think that advertising to people who are in distress is particularly appalling because it constitutes 'taking advantage' of peoples who are vulnerable and willing to do just about anything to obtain some relief. I know that we are subjected to it on television and so forth already, but I don't think that sites (such as this) should use the 'but everybody else does' it excuse. Things won't change unless people take a stand...

But rant aside... I surely wish I could block the darned things...

You really aren't getting them? Most of the ones I get are banner adds. Pictures of attractive people and phrases such as 'Multiple Strengths can help customize a treatment plan to manage symptoms of acute manic or mixed episodes of bipolar disorder.' That is the one I'm seeing under the 'continue' and 'check spelling' links at the bottom of the post box that I'm entering text into now. If I click the 'Learn More' on the ad I find:

'About GEODON® (ziprasidone HCI)
GEODON is a medicine for the treatment of some mental illnesses. It is used for acute manic acute bipolar mania or mixed episodes associated with bipolar disorder.

Doctors believe GEODON helps balance certain natural chemicals in your brain. This, in turn, helps treat your symptoms of acute mania acute bipolar mania or a mixed episode. And that can help you feel better.

What are the signs of acute bipolar mania or a mixed episode?

During acute mania acute bipolar mania you may:

Feel overly happy
Feel hyper
Feel grouchy
Feel restless
Have difficulty concentrating'

So... 'happy, hyper, grouchy, restless, difficulty concentrating'. I'll offer a million bucks if you can find me someone who hasn't felt one or more of those things at some point in their life.

But what the hey, on with the pathologizing of normality - ho!
No wonder we are having (or working our way towards) an 'epidemic'.
Which is self defeating when it comes to parity and the like, but who cares so long as the drug companies get a little richer...

In case people are sceptical about the effects of advertising, rates of bi-polar have soared (in the US in particular) since drug companies have started to target bi-polar symptoms (helped along by the talk about removing 'borderline personality' from the DSM so that clinicians are now starting to cast that as 'rapid cycling bi-polar' or 'bi-polar II').

The phrase I have the most difficulty with is this one:
'Doctors believe GEODON helps balance certain natural chemicals in your brain'.

Really? I'd like to see the survey results on what it is that doctors believe. People should have to reference such claims when they are offering them as 'information'. Surely the appeal to authority is misplaced at any rate as it is what SCIENTISTS (who study the nature and effects of Geoden) rather than what DOCTORS believe (who don't study the nature and effects of Geoden) that is relevant to whether or not Geoden actually does help balance neurochemistry.

The use of 'natural' is strategic (any chemical whether 'naturally occuring' or 'artificially made' has to work on the receptor sites that brains actually have. And really... They are making the chemical in the lab rather than finding it in nature - aren't they? How is the active ingredient in Geoden anymore natural than the active ingredient in morphene or crack??? What the hell does natural mean (in this context?) The use of 'natural' is a buzz word that has warm and fuzzy and 'its okay' emotional connotations without actually meaning anything.

The use of 'balance' suggests that the drug works by restoring an 'unbalanced' state to a 'balanced' one. Medications don't target whatever is wrong by fixing it, however. How come? Because they affect transmission in sites where those transmittors are NOT unbalanced (the effects are too non-specific) and of course the side effects of medication show that it isn't merely 'turning unbalanced into balanced'.

Until the 'false advertising' or 'misleading advertising' laws make it such that advertising isn't a matter of exploiting peoples natural cognitive biases (e.g., natural = good for me) advertising shouldn't be allowed in situations where it is important for people to make INFORMED and RATIONAL decisions (most notably in health care).