“Psychiatrists have rarely enjoyed a surplus of public trust,” writes Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, in an editorial in Journal of the American Medical Association, and recent revelations of extensive financial ties between psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical industry have not helped the situation any.

It is now well established that gifts from the pharmaceutical industry, including not only stipends and honoraria but also food and pens, influence the decisions physicians make in treating their patients. Insel poses the