Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher

by Gwen Olsen

"
Winner of the IPPY Award gold medal for Most Progressive Health Book

On December 2, 2004, Gwen Olsen’s niece Megan committed suicide by setting herself on fire—and ended her tortured life as a victim of the adverse effects of prescription drugs. Olsen’s poignant autobiographical journey through the darkness of mental illness and the catastrophic consequences that lurk in medicine cabinets around the country offers an honest glimpse into alarming statistics and a health care system ranked last among nineteen industrialized nations worldwide. As a former sales representative in the pharmaceutical industry for several years, Olsen learned firsthand how an unprecedented number of lethal drugs are unleashed in the United States market, but her most heartrending education into the dangers of antidepressants would come as a victim and ultimately, as a survivor. Rigorously researched and documented, Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher is a moving human drama that shares one woman’s unforgettable journey of faith, forgiveness, and healing."

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Medicine, Memoir, Drugs, Medical, Science

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 31, 2005

About the author

Gwen Olsen is the author of the award-winning book, Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher and contributing author to two other books, Doctor of the Future by Dan Yachter, D.C., and the Maximized Living Makeover Manual by Dr. Ben Lerner et al. Gwen has also published health-related articles in the Well Being Journal, Natural News, and the Health News Digest.

Gwen is a passionate mental health activist, writer, and dynamic speaker who devotes much of her time to mental health and child advocacy. Gwen volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for the Travis County court system from 1995 to 2000, serving as an advocate for abused and neglected foster children in Texas. A 2007 Human Rights Award recipient, she is sought after internationally as a speaker and media resource, and has testified numerous times before Congress and the FDA. Please use the “Hire Gwen” tab in this website to schedule Gwen to speak at your upcoming event.

A fifteen-year-veteran pharmaceutical rep from 1985 – 2000, Gwen worked for McNeil Pharmaceutical, Syntex Laboratories, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott Labs and Forest Laboratories. She was a hospital rep and specialist rep for the majority of her career, educating residents in hospital teaching settings and selling prescription drugs to doctors in obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, cardiology, neurology, endocrinology and psychiatry.

Gwen has a unique industry insider’s perspective of the current U.S. healthcare dilemma, and utilizes both her experience and the insight she received in her extensive sales training with Pharma to illuminate marketing trends and illustrate how current greed and conflicts of interest make the system itself the biggest health risk to American consumers.

from http://www.gwenolsen.com/?page_id=2

Reviews

[Mark Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of research for my own novel, and found it very well written. It was backed by interesting scientific facts, yet was very personal and from a unique perspective of somene whose family was touched by mental illness, impacted by psychotropic drugs, and also peddled these same drugs to doctors with eventual misgivings.

Throughout the book, the author goes back and forth between interpersonal experience and her career. I wanted to hear more about her role as a Pharm rep, but that's my bias and was my reason for reading the book. If anything, her Pharm rep role was toned down compared to what happens in the industry. And by the author's own volition, the book turned into a cathartic purge of all her experiences with mental illness.

If you or a loved one have taken, or are considering taking a psychotropic medication, I think it's certainly worth a read. I have high respect for the author who was willing to be so personal and also disclose so much, which was certainly a huge risk.

[Ira · Rating 3 out of 5]

The contents of this book are hard to stomach. The author was a sales rep at various pharmaceutical companies and also a user of a variety of drugs aimed at altering “humour” narrating a story that could only come out of the USA. She is denouncing the industry for being about making money rather than helping people get better and illustrating how the two mostly collide, how captive audiences in care homes are exploited, how addiction is fostered, side effects welcomed as opportunities to sell more drugs, scientific research rigged, the FDA ineffectual, congress corrupt and so on and so forth. Anyone in doubt about the effects of a private health sector ought to read this book. What I found particularly harrowing was the way SSRIs are pushed, the censoring of knowledge of their effects, and a thread that started appearing as I was reading, linking the use of certain SSRIs with random, out of character acts of violence of the sort that, despite recognisable patterns linking the type of drug rather than its takers, always seems to get buried under some diagnosis of mental illness. The author is tactful about the overworked drug dealers (the doctors) and even about the hyper-money-driven-high-on-drugs drug pushers like she was; she understandably points the finger at big pharma and a sleepy government. Much of it is mixed with autobiographical information as she was motivated to write the book by the death of her niece. Glad she did.

[Mandy Spejcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a lot of things that I found interesting about this book - and having had really bad experiences on antidepressants as a teenager, I was intrigued by how common these side effects seem. However, I think the author painted psychiatric drugs with too wide of a brush. They do help a lot of people who need them. And while there are A LOT of things wrong with how drug reps work with doctors (especially re: opiates), she didn't seem to spend much time on that issue, or at least not as much as I was hoping for. The book seemed to really delve into problems with modern medicine and the overprescribing of psychiatric drugs, which is an interesting topic but not really what I was interested in reading about. Later on the book, the author gently begins offering some woo-woo crankery that I really was not pleased to see. Things like how many health problems are really just caused by subluxations that we can fix with chiropractors! There were lists of alternative herbs and remedies people can use for anxiety, chronic pain, etc. These are....not really why I read the book. And really have nothing to do with the problem of drug sales reps offering swag, meals, trips, etc. to doctors in exchange for writing more prescriptions. I get that she was trying to offer a solution, but it was unfortunate that solution wasn't evidence-based medicine, and yunno, less involvement of drug reps and pharmaceutical companies in actual medicine.

[Alessandra Fissinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's really too too bad that this book is pretty much only read by the victims and families of the casualties after this knowledge was learned the hard way and it's too late

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written by a former drug rep who worked for some of the largest pharmaceutical companies, like Syntex Labs, Bristol-Myers Squibb, & Abbott Laboratories and Forest Laboratories. She talks about closed-door conversations between reps and their bosses, and how blatantly the pharmaceuticals are about not caring necessarily about the customers' well-being, but only to treat symptoms and then sell more drugs to deal with the side-effects of the drugs they're already taking.

She talks about the science that is funded by the pharmaceuticals and how it cannot be trusted, due to obvious conflicts of interest. She also gives personal experiences with people she knew, who were prescribed over time of how a lethal cocktail of drugs killed many of them or led them to suicide. This occurs because researchers cannot test every possible combination of drugs--there's simply not enough time available for this. Apparently, the body needs time to flush a drug out of the system, and doctors don't allow for that time. So, the combinations are particularly concerning.

Long story short, if someone we love is behaving erratically, it could be because of a mixture of prescription/non-prescription drugs. Don't expect your physician to protect you because they do not have time to keep up on all the research, and they are constantly persuaded by attractive, smart-sounding drug reps, who come to their offices bringing lots of free samples, food, and gifts.

The point of the book is get informed and take charge of your own health, rather than relying on those who consistently demonstrate that they value profit above your well-being.

This is not to say that no anti-depressants are ever useful. Just be aware that their over-prescribed as a quick-fix and haven't been adequately tested, in most cases.

[Al · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never write reviews, but this book was so bad I needed to say something.

I picked up Gwen Olsen’s book because I thought it would be a critical look at psychopharmacology from the perspective of a drug representative who was paid to promote those medications. That is not what this book is. It is much more than that, and not in a good way. This memoir weaves together Olsen’s personal anecdotes, cherry picked lines from clinical research, and the rightful criticisms of psychopharmacology that others have previously published into a messy, paranoid, anti-pharmaceutical, pro-chiropractic, pro-supplement manifesto.

Gwen Olsen is not a healthcare professional. She is not a neuroscientist. Her bachelor’s degree was in foreign language, and prior to becoming a drug rep, she had never taken biology or chemistry. Nevertheless, she positions herself as a scientist and an expert on pharmacology based on the knowledge she gained as a part of promoting these drugs as a drug rep, which frankly is a gross overstep on her part. The book is littered with errors in basic pharmacology and human physiology that are frankly too numerous to list. These errors were not caught or corrected in editing, which means the average reader will accept them as fact. 

This book is a mess. It jumps from topic to topic with no consistent narrative. I’m not sure why it’s been so highly rated. 

[Dianne Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Eye-opening and Well-written

This is a must-read for anyone who is prescribed medication or has a loved-one who is prescribed medication...so seriously for everyone. Very informative and thought-provoking.

[Karen Branson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this informative book with eye-opening information on the pharmaceutical industry and anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds in particular. Kudos to Gwen Olsen!

[Tralala Tralala · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact this woman is still standing is amazing. The US healthcare system is a farce.

[Todd Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative book about the effects of prescription meds, especially those used for mental illness. Often the side effects are much worse than the condition they are prescribed for, and often allowed on the market without proper testing and pushed through too quickly by the FDA. I recommend this one for anyone who has family members on any medication or anyone just seeking knowledge of the truth of big pharma in the US.

[Gwen Henson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book turned out to be a little more biographical and not as thorough in facts about drugs as I anticipated, but was very informative nonetheless. It focused heavily on effects of psychiatric meds. The author is very open and sincere, as well as smart and compassionate. Good read.

[Jaclyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

did not finish

[Max Lapin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Каким способом в фармацевтике проталкиваются лекарства? Создать спрос, обеспечить поддержку врачей, добиться постоянства назначений - книга признаний разочарованного агента с 15-летним стажем о том, как устроен маркетинг изнутри в крайне успешной отрасли. Очень похоже на мемуары сбежавшего разведчика. Для пациентов откровение, для других отраслей урок.

[Nancy Rector · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a gal who was a pharmaceutical rep for 15 years and saw up close and personal the deceptions and lies used to sell their wares Proves is is not about healing but about keeping folks ill to profit off them.

[Chrisi McGlone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scarey but hopeful.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher is perhaps one of the most conflicting books I've ever read.

To clarify my stance, Gwen Olsen seems like a very interesting person. Her narrative is very consuming at times. She has clearly overcame some very tumultuous times and she makes this very well-known in her writing.

There are some parts of this book that I would give five stars. However, there are others that I would only give two stars.

For legibility, I'll elaborate on the parts that have led me to give certain aspects of the book five stars, and others only two stars.

Five stars: Gwen Olsen has clearly done her research while writing this book. Many of her sources are well-cited, academic sources that are easy to follow up on. Her navigation of the pharmaceutical industry prompts many questions to the reader, and I am led to believe that this is one of the main reasons why she wrote this book. In that regard, she very much succeeds her purpose. Some of the things that she claims to have seen and overheard are simply appalling and will come as a shock to many readers. She is not afraid to discredit her own character and take responsibility for her actions as she fulfills her role responsibilities with methods that are questionable. Her prose is coherent for even the most pharmaceutical-abstaining layman. She very clearly describes her stance in a way that is easy to read while not eliminating any details.

Two stars: At times, I am very unsure how to feel about this book because of its interpolation of religious text and ideology with pharma science. I have a hard time deciding whether I am reading a legitimate autobiography about the nature of pharmaceutical companies and pharmaceuticals in general, or whether I am reading a semi-religious self help text. While I realize that this book was intended to chronicle her varying life experiences, it is conflicting to center myself around a specific point because of the occasional disorganization that this book conveys. While I personally don't have a bane against religion, with the layout of the autobiography in mind, it is difficult to read about randomly-placed religion in a mostly scientific text.

Conclusion or (tl;dr): come for the shocking statistics and anecdotes, but don't stay for the seemingly religious undertones.