Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Drug Companies, and the Internet

Abstract

The public increasingly acquires information about the causes of, and treatments for, mental health problems from the Internet. This study investigated the top 54 websites about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Google and Yahoo! to assess differences in the content of websites funded and not funded by drug companies. In all, 42% of the websites received drug company funding. There was no relationship found between the causes stated and whether the website was drug company funded. Drug company–funded websites, however, gave significantly more emphasis to medication in the treatment of PTSD. This study confirms an earlier study indicating that the pervasive influence of the pharmaceutical industry in the mental health field, designed to maximize product sales, now includes information available to the public via the Internet.

KEYWORDS:

• PTSD
• internet
• pharmaceutical industry