Clarifying my letter

During the editing process, a shift occurred in content of my letter to the editor¹ that I wish to correct. The statement that we need to stop “pharmaceutical companies from controlling information about treatments” suggests the onus is on industry to present balanced education. My submitted title, which was changed during editing to “Drug marketing priorities,” was “Where is the marketing for effective and cost effective psychotherapies?”

The emphasis of my letter is that we, as administrators, educators and clinicians are responsible for providing and learning about a balanced psychological, social and biological approach to patient care. Given strong evidence for brief psychotherapies in a broad range of conditions, physicians should be afforded equal opportunity to learn about these treatments side by side with pharmacotherapy options. Moreover, patients should be aware of and have access to these cost-effective and safe therapies where they choose. The onus is on us who provide programs, edit journals or coordinate medical faculties to be certain we are facilitating this balance in medical education and practice.

Allan Abbass Director, Centre for Emotions and Health Dalhousie University Halifax, NS