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1.) Psychiatrist, William Glasser, says it all in his book title: WARNING: PSYCHIATRY CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR MENTAL HEALTH -- Dr. Glasser is world famous for his Reality Therapy and Choice Theory, and has never prescribed psychiatric medications. Read reviews of Glasser’s book at Amazon.
2.) RAPE OF THE SOUL by Ty Colbert Ph.D., Ty also wrote another good but hard to find book on this subject called BROKEN BRAINS OR WOUNDED HEARTS. Colbert explains why people get labeled with psychiatric disorders and what he believes is really going on in their lives. The chemical imbalance theory is a bogus advertising myth.
Read reviews of Ty’s book.
3.) A DOSE OF SANITY - by Sydney Walker, M.D. - delves into physical conditions that often cause psychiatric symptoms. He talks about how many doctors prescribe pills before ever considering actual physical issues that may be the root cause. Read reviews.
4.) CREATING MENTAL ILLNESS - by Allan V. Horwitz - This book unfortunately reads like a text book, and goes into the sociology of mental illness. On page one he says: “Historically, labels of mental illness were reserved for people whose behavior was extremely strange, incomprehensible, and disruptive. At the turn of the century, Sigmund Freud revolutionized thinking about the nature of mental illness. Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis, and the more general system of dynamic psychiatry that stemmed from it, expanded the field to take in a broad range of neurotic conditions rather than the small number of psychotic conditions that asylum psychiatry emphasized.” Then on page 158, the author says: “A critical flaw of diagnostic psychiatry is its failure to separate symptoms that are normal responses to stressful environments from those where some internal psychological mechanism is functioning inappropriately.” A few sentences later, he says: “This chapter illustrates how social factors that are external to individuals are responsible for many of the conditions now mistakenly viewed as mental disorders. Read reviews. ______________________________________________________
That is essentially what the authors of all the books I’ve posted are talking about - the medicalizing of the conditions of life. Years ago, we all knew people were unique. Today, because of the DSM, anyone a bit different can be slapped with a mental disorder of some kind. Once upon a time, we knew teenagers tended to be argumentative and difficult to get along with. Today kids get the label: Oppositional Defiant Disorder.
The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) was written in 1952. It was not handed down by God on Mount Psychiatry. So-called disorders are added and taken out of the DSM every time it is revised. If the general public buys into all the DSM disorders, pharmaceutical companies have a customer base willing to purchase their medications.
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5.) MAD IN AMERICA - by Robert Whitaker - A very readable eye-opening look at the history of the mental health system up to today. Whitaker was inspired to research and write this book when he read World Health Organization stats that said schizophrenic patients were more likely to get well in 3rd world countries than in the U.S. and industrialized nations. The big difference was that patients in poor nations couldn’t afford to keep buying psychiatric medications. They got well BECAUSE they stopped taking meds!
Read Reviews.
6.) MAKING US CRAZY: DSM The Psychiatric Bible and the Creation of Mental Disorders by Herb Kutchins and Stuart A. Kirk - This book talks about the DSM as a battleground of philosophies and politics. I’ll quote a few lines on the fly leaf:
“...But things have taken a strange turn. The fight is no longer about who escapes DSM labeling, but rather how a person can qualify for a diagnosis. Now, mental health professionals must label their clients as pathological in order for them to be reimbursed by their insurance company. Suddenly, a woman seeking help in coping with an unpleasant boss is defined as clinically depressed; or a housewife who voices concern about her shopping sprees is labeled bipolar (manic depressive). The disturbing trend toward making us crazy when we are simply grappling with everyday concerns has even worse public implications..” Read reviews.
7.) PROZAC BACKLASH: Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Other Antidepressants with Safe, Effective Alternatives - by Joseph Glenmullen,
M.D. - The flyleaf begins like this:
“Roughly 28 million Americans--one in every ten--have taken Prozac, Zoloft, or Paxil or a similar antidepressant, yet very few patients are aware of the dangers of these drugs, nor are they aware that better, safer alternatives exist. Now Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Joseph Glenmullen documents the ominous long-term side effects associated with these and other serotonin-boosting medications. These side effects include neurological disorders, such as disfiguring facial and whole body tics, that can indicate brain damage; sexual dysfunction, in up to 60 percent of users; debilitating withdrawal symptoms, including visual hallucinations, electric shock-like sensations in the brain, dizziness,
nausea, and anxiety, and a decrease of antidepressant effectiveness in about 35 percent of long-term users.” He also tells of direct link between drugs and suicide and violence.
Read reviews here.
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MORE GREAT BOOKS:
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DEATH BY PRESCRIPTION and OVERDOSED AMERICA deal with all medications,
not just psych meds. Dr. John Abramson, who wrote Overdosed America, became so upset by what he saw happening in the field of medicine he closed his practice to research and write his book. On page 96, he tells us:
“In September 2001 an unprecedented alarm was sounded. The editors of 12 of the world’s most influencial medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, the New England of Medicine, The Lancet, and the Annals of Internal Medicine, issued an extraordinary joint statement in their publications. In words that should have shaken the medical profession to its core, the statement told of ‘draconian’ terms being imposed on medical researchers by corporate sponsors. And it warned that the ‘precious objectivity’ of the clinical studies that were being published in their journals was being threatened by the transformation of clinical research into a commercial activity. The editors said that the use of commercially sponsored clinical trials ‘primarily for marketing...makes a mockery of clinical investigation and is a misuse of a powerful tool.”
Read reviews of Death by Prescription.
Reviews of Overdosed America
THE POWER TO HARM is about the famous Wesbecker Case. The cover blurb begins this way: “On September 14, 1989, forty-seven-year-old Joseph Wesbecker entered the Standard Gravure printing plant in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, armed with an AK-47 asault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. A half hour later, he had killed or wounded twenty people, then turned the gun on himself.” Read the reviews.
UNHOLY MADNESS: The Churches Surrender to Psychiatry - Great book, lots of good info. - On page 38, Seth Farber quotes a 1992 Justice Department briefing: “Current intelligence shows psychiatric hospitals and clinics are defrauding government programs and private insurers of hundreds of milllions of dollars annually... Our investigative team found that thousands of adolescents, children and adults have been hospitalized for a psychiatric care they really did not need...Documents, affidavidts, and testimony obtained by the Committee will show a systematic plan to bilk patients of their hard-earned dollars, strip them of their dignity, and leave them worse off than before they went for help.” Read the reviews.
CRUEL COMPASSION according to the cover blurb “is the capstone of Thomas Szasz’s critique of psychiatric practices...No contemporary thinker has done more than Thomas Szasz to expose the myths and misconceptions surrounding insanity and the practice of psychiatry...” Read reviews here.
More Books about Medication side effects everyone should read
How to get off psychiatric drugs safely
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