Hidden forces Behind the US Prescription Drug Epidemic

After noticing more and more patients in her practice struggling with prescription drug addiction, psychiatrist Anna Lembke, MD, investigated the problem of rampant overprescribing in the US medical community and the hidden forces encouraging it. Her resulting 2016 release, Drug Dealer, MD: How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop, became an influential bestseller. Health Affairs deemed the work a “thought-provoking book [that] should be a must-read for medical trainees, providers, and health policy leaders working at the forefront of addressing the prescription drug epidemic.”

Associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, California, Lembke will present a featured session at the upcoming Psych Congress conference. She recently talked with Psych Congress Network about the state of the US prescription drug epidemic, our modern-day aversion to pain of all forms, and how her medical colleagues have reacted to her book’s provocative title.