Daniel Carlat is an American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their ...

known for his critical stance towards pharmaceutical prescription practices and corporate sponsorship of continuing medical education. He is the CEO of Carlat Publishing, which sells newsletters and other materials used for CME.

Background

Currently, Carlat is a faculty member at Tufts Medical School and serves as the editor of ''The'' ''Carlat Psychiatry Report,'' a monthly newsletter. In 2007, he wrote a ''New York Times Magazine'' article entitled "Dr. Drug Rep" about how he was recruited by the pharmaceutical company Wyeth to promote the

antidepressant Antidepressants are a class of medication used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain conditions, and to help manage addictions. Common side-effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness ...

Effexor as being more effective than other antidepressants on the market. According to Carlat, he began to doubt the quality of the data that supported the drug he was paid to promote, pointing towards the short-term nature of the studies cited by the company, along with concerns raised about withdrawal symptoms. He eventually chose to quit giving talks on behalf of drug companies entirely after being questioned by a Wyeth district manager about his "enthusiasm" for the product''.'' In another 2007 article in The Boston Globe, he criticized

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United State ...

for accepting millions of dollars from drug companies that sponsored continuing psychiatry courses. Carlat has also criticized the quality of psychiatric

pathophysiology Pathophysiology ( physiopathology) – a convergence of pathology with physiology – is the study of the disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. Pathology is t ...

by comparing his field to

cardiology Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular he ...

, which he argues has a better understanding of how to treat problems using medication. He cites problems such as an inability to directly measure

neurotransmitter A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a synapse. The cell receiving the signal, any main body part or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell. Neur ...

levels in living patients and a reliance on indirect testing methods (e.g., measuring serotonin based on

cerebrospinal fluid Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless body fluid found within the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord of all vertebrates. CSF is produced by specialised ependymal cells in the choroid plexus of the ventricles of the bra ...

samples or during post-mortem studies).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlat, Daniel Living people American psychiatrists University of California, San Francisco alumni Year of birth missing (living people)