CME Message: Prescribe More EMSAM!

MAOIs are tricky to prescribe. Are they really worth the risks of drug and food interactions? Are they actually more effective than SSRIs for atypical depression? These are tough questions to answer. Do you trust two MECCs paid by the maker of EMSAM to give you accurate answers? God help your patients if you do. Click here to read the announcement for the upcoming webcast, "MAO Inhibitor Antidepressants: Overcoming Barriers to Clinical Use."

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Pseudo CME about Pseudobulbar Affect

Stephen Stahl's company NEI (Neuroscience Institute) produces plenty of good psychiatric education, much of it funded by subscription fees paid by doctors. But the more lucrative part of their business is churning out industry-supported CME. This is an activity funded by Avanir, maker of Nuedexta. Based on a "real patient case," the course describes a 27 year old vet who had a traumatic brain injury, and who was misdiagnosed with depression. But the actual cause of his crying was PBA (pseudobulbar affect), and the ultimate effective treatment was Avanir's Nuedexta. This piece of promotional CME accomplishes two goals for Avanir--it encourages psychiatrists to look for PBA in all their depressed patients (PBA is primarily a symptom of ALS and stroke, and is rarely seen in a psychiatric practice), and it pushes them to choose Nuedexta over everything else.

Find the link to the course here. Reading it requires a free registration as an NEI "guest."

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From the Rogue's Gallery Archives—Delaware Media Group: Sleazy MECC of the Month

The June 2010 issue of "Counseling Points" was body-snatched by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and became an ACCME accredited advertisement for Risperdal Consta and Invega Sustenna. See the Carlat Psychiatry Blog exposè here.

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