Have Drug Companies Quit Mental Illness Research?

Andrew Scull says major drug companies have abandoned research on serious mental illness. No research by the people with the most money to develop better treatments is depressing. He would be astonished if the major forms of mental illness did not have a biological component. Biology is never going to be the whole story, but it is an important part of the story. He hopes somebody has a breakthrough and produces a better drug.

Public policy is in a mess when it comes to serious mental illness. He is pessimistic about fixing it because it would cost bunches of money. A cure that turned people from tax eaters into taxpayers would create an incentive to spend. The honest answer is the field is not there right now. Social interaction is tremendously important to people's mental health. When people are lonely or isolated, it does bad things to them. Providing social supports and some sense of agency to people who often lack it would be very helpful.

Drug companies have been bad actors in many ways, but the drugs have had some positive effects. The path forward is a mix of continued research on drugs and, from a patient perspective, extreme caution in the use of the drugs. Psychiatrists should broaden their perspective, and some already have.