THE DOWNSIDE OF
PSYCHOACTIVE MEDICATIONS
Denis has sent us some web page reviews about medications.
A review of 4 web pages on the downside of psychoactive medications.
"It feels so great to be off psych meds: a recovery story by Corinna West".
In that posting (2800 words, June 2011) Corinna talks about her successful struggle to improve her mental health (and reduce harm) by getting off most psychoactive medication, with many personal details of drugs that she dealt with. She starts with a brief outline of the issue around exaggerations by the drug industry of the effectiveness of their drugs, and provides several relevant links.
A link "chemical imbalance theory" on that page points to
"The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?" by Marcia Angell .
That page (2100 words, June 2011) reviews 3 important recent books which criticize the poor or missing evidence for the effectiveness of psychoactive drugs, especially in providing long-term relief to sufferers of mental disorders. I really liked the writing style which brings out the essential ideas and makes me want to read the 3 books.
"The Emperor’s New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth" by Irving Kirsch
"Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America" by Robert Whitaker
"Unhinged: The Trouble With Psychiatry—A Doctor’s Revelations About a Profession in Crisis" by Daniel Carlat
This ends with "Why is the current against which Kirsch and Whitaker and, as we will see, Carlat are swimming so powerful? I discuss these questions in Part II of this review."
There is also a set of 3 rebuttal letters to the editor from psychiatrists, followed by a counter-rebuttal followed by Marcia Angell. Interestingly she never refers to herself as "Dr Angell".
I found the sequel "The Illusions of Psychiatry" (28,000 words, July 2011), which talks about the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)
Much appreciated Denis.
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