Virtual pushers: Antidepressant internet marketing and women

Abstract

Synopsis Women are diagnosed with “mental illnesses”, such as depression, at twice the rate of men. The basis of women's mental distress is often seen as biological, but many feminists believe society strongly influences women's mental health. Despite this, in recent years treatment for women's mental distress has often come in the form of antidepressants. While direct to consumer marketing of prescription medications is illegal in most countries, pharmaceutical companies use the internet as a global marketing tool for their psychotropic medications. In this paper I describe and analyse several antidepressant websites and examine whether these sites are marketing their products specifically to women. I will also ask if these sites are attempting to market their drugs to women already diagnosed as mentally ill, and/or creating new markets for their drugs by trying to convince more women they have a mental illness.