Dr. Breggin presents this fascinating, frightening, and dramatic look at people driven to suicide, murder, and other violent behaviors by the psychotropic medications that were meant to help them.
Prozac, Xanax, Halcion, Haldol, Lithium. These psychiatric drugs--and dozens of other short-term "solutions"--are being prescribed by doctors across the country as a quick antidote to depression, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other psychiatric problems. But at what cost? In this searing, myth-shattering exposé, psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin, M.D., breaks through the hype and false promises surrounding the "New Psychiatry" and shows how dangerous, even potentially brain-damaging, many of its drugs and treatments are. He asserts that: psychiatric drugs are spreading an epidemic of long-term brain damage; mental "illnesses" like schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety disorder have never been proven to be genetic or even physical in origin, but are under the jurisdiction of medical doctors; millions of schoolchildren, housewives, elderly people, and others are labeled with medical diagnoses and treated with authoritarian interventions, rather than being patiently listened to, understood, and helped. Toxic Psychiatry sounds a passionate, much-needed wake-up call for everyone who plays a part, active or passive, in America's ever-increasing dependence on harmful psychiatric drugs.
A psychiatrist takes a critical look at this SSRI and newer medications that are among the most frequently prescribed drugs in America. Prozac. Millions of Americans are on it. And just about everyone else is wondering if they should be on it, too. The claims of the pro‐Prozac chorus are enticing: that it can cure everything from depression (the only disorder for which Prozac was originally approved) to fear of public speaking, PMS, obesity, shyness, migraine, and back pain—with few or no side effects. But is the reality quite different? At what price do we buy Prozac‐induced euphoria and a shiny new personality? Psychiatrist Peter Breggin, MD, and coauthor Ginger Ross Breggin answer these and other crucial questions in Talking Back to Prozac. They explain what Prozac is and how it works, and they take a hard look at the real story behind today’s most controversial drug: The fact that Prozac was tested in trials of four to six weeks in length before receiving FDA approval The difficulty Prozac’s manufacturer had in proving its effectiveness during these tests The information on side effects that the FDA failed to include in its final labeling requirements How Prozac acts as a stimulant not unlike the addictive drugs cocaine and amphetamine The dangers of possible Prozac addiction and abuse The seriousness and frequency of Prozac’s side effects, including agitation, insomnia, nausea, diarrhea, loss of libido, and difficulty reaching orgasm The growing evidence that Prozac can cause violence and suicide The social and workplace implications of using the drug not to cure depression but to change personality and enhance performance Using dramatic case histories as well as scientific research and carefully documented evidence, the Breggins expose the potentially damaging effects of Prozac. They also describe the resounding success that has been achieved with more humane alternatives for the treatment of depression. Talking Back to Prozac provides essential information for anyone who takes Prozac or is considering taking it, and for those who prescribe it.
Known as the "Ralph Nader of psychiatry," Peter Breggin has been the medical expert in countless civil and criminal cases involving the use or misuse of psychoactive medications. This unusual position has given him unprecedented access to private pharmaceutical research and correspondence files, access that informs this straight-talking guide to the most-prescribed and controversial class of psychoactive medications prescribed for children. From how these drugs work in the brain to documented side and withdrawal effects, The Ritalin Fact Book is up-to-the-minute and easy-to-access. With its suggestions for non-prescriptive ways to treat ADD and ADHD, it is essential reading for every parent whose child is on or who has been recommended psychoactive medication.
From the author of Toxic Psychiatry and Talking Back to Prozac: "Peter Breggin is the conscience of American psychiatry. Once more he updates us on the real evidence with respect to the safety and effectiveness of specific psychiatric medications and ECT. This information is needed by all mental health professionals, as well as patients and families." --Bertram Karon, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University, Author of The Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia "Nowhere does false medical thinking do more harm than in the modern psychiatric argument that mental illness is easily diagnosed and then cured by a side-effect free drug. Nowhere is the correct psychiatric thinking more evident than in the books by Peter Breggin."-- William Glasser, MD, psychiatrist, author of Reality Therapy In Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, renowned psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin, M.D., presents startling scientific research on the dangerous behavioral abnormalities and brain dysfunctions produced by the most widely used and newest psychiatric drugs such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Cymbalta, Effexor, Xanax, Ativan, Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, Strattera, Risperdal, Zyprexa, Geodon, Abilify, lithium and Depakote. Many of Breggin's earlier findings have improved clinical practice, led to legal victories against drug companies, and resulted in FDA-mandated changes in what the manufacturers must admit about their drugs. Yet reliance on these drugs has continued to escalate in the last decade, and drug company interests have overwhelmed psychiatric practice. This greatly expanded second edition, supported by the latest evidence-based research, shows that psychiatric drugs achieve their primary or essential effect by causing brain dysfunction, and that they tend to do far more harm than good. New scientific analyses in this completely updated edition include: Chapters covering every new antidepressant and stimulant drug Twenty new guidelines for how to conduct non-drug therapy A chapter describing how to safely withdraw from psychiatric drugs A discussion of "medication spellbinding," explaining how patients fail to appreciate their drug-induced mental dysfunctions Documentation of how the drug companies control research and the flow of information about psychiatric treatments
With the first unified theory of guilt, shame, and anxiety, this pioneering psychiatrist and critic of psychiatric diagnoses and drugs examines the causes and effects of psychological and emotional suffering from the perspective of biological evolution, child development, and mature adult decision-making. Drawing on evolution, neuroscience, and decades of clinical experience, Dr. Breggin analyzes what he calls our negative legacy emotions—the painful emotional heritage that encumbers all human beings. The author marshals evidence that we evolved as the most violent and yet most empathic creatures on Earth. Evolution dealt with this species-threatening conflict between our violence and our close-knit social life by building guilt, shame, and anxiety into our genes. These inhibiting emotions were needed prehistorically to control our self-assertiveness and aggression within intimate family and clan relationships. Dr. Breggin shows how guilt, shame, and anxiety eventually became self-defeating and demoralizing legacies from our primitive past that no longer play any useful or positive role in mature adult life. He then guides the reader through the Three Steps to Emotional Freedom, starting with how to identify negative legacy emotions and then how to reject their control over us. Finally, he describes how to triumph over and transcend guilt, shame, and anxiety on the way to greater emotional freedom and a more rational, loving, and productive life.
When first published in 1999, Your Drug May Be Your Problem was ahead of its time. The only book to provide an uncensored description of the dangers involved in taking every kind of psychiatric medication, it was also the first and only book to explain how to safely stop taking them. In the time elapsed, there have been numerous studies suggesting or proving the dangers of some psychiatric medications and even the FDA now acknowledges the problems; more studies are under way to determine their long-term and withdrawal effects. In the meantime, this book continues to be ever relevant and helpful. Fully updated to include study results and new medications that have come to market, Your Drug May Be Your Problem will help countless readers exert control over their own psychiatric treatment.
Known as "the Ralph Nader of psychiatry," Dr. Peter Breggin has been the medical expert in countless court cases involving the use or misuse of psychoactive medications. This unusual position has given him unprecedented access to private pharmaceutical research and correspondence files, information from which informs this straight-talking guide to the most prescribed and controversial category of American drugs: antidepressants. From how these drugs work in the brain to how they treat (or don't treat) depression and obsessive-compulsive, panic, and other disorders; from the documented side and withdrawal effects to what every parent needs to know about antidepressants and teenagers, The Anti-Depressant Fact Book is up-to-the minute and easy-to-access. Hard-hitting and enlightening, every current, former, and prospective antidepressant-user will want to read this book.
Millions of children take Ritalin for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The drug's manufacturer, Novartis, claims that Ritalin is the "solution" to this widespread problem. But hidden behind the well-oiled public-relations machine is a potentially devastating reality: children are being given a drug that can cause the same bad effects as amphetamine and cocaine, including behavioral disorders, growth suppression, neurological tics, agitation, addiction, and psychosis. Talking Back to Ritalin uncovers these and other startling facts and translates the research findings for parents and doctors alike. An advocate for education not medication, Dr. Breggin empowers parents to channel distracted, disenchanted, and energetic children into powerful, confident, and brilliant members of the family and society.
In response to the recent rash of teen violence in our schools, a noted psychiatrist delivers a passionately argued yet highly prescriptive blueprint for healing our relationships with our children.
An explanation of the common principles of conflict resolution on every level discusses self-help, psychotherapy, and family therapy and discloses the impact and origins of guilt and anxiety.
At a time when biological psychiatry claims that drugs and electroshock are the best methods for helping deeply disturbed persons, mental health professionals need to be reminded that psychological and social approaches to mental illnesses remain more effective, less harmful, and much more able to address the real needs of recovery, growth, and development for affected persons. Psychosocial Approaches to Deeply Disturbed Persons empowers counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to trust their intuitive and clinical understanding of how to help seriously disturbed people through humane, caring approaches. Psychosocial Approaches to Deeply Disturbed Persons introduces mental health professionals to an array of psychological and social alternatives that are available for helping patients considered “psychotic” or very emotionally disturbed. Focusing on psychological and social approaches to helping people who become labeled “psychotic” or who carry serious psychiatric diagnoses, contributors show mental health professionals psychological, social, and spiritual alternatives for approaching or treating these individuals. Readers learn about: a successful model for nonmedical, non-drug residential treatment centers utilizing the artwork of psychotic patients case histories of psychoanalytic therapy group therapy to help families with a “schizophrenic” member improve communication Re-evaluation Counseling (RC) with disturbed individuals psychoanalytically-oriented therapy World Health Organization research which demonstrates the positive effect of extended family and social relationships and the negative effect of modern biopsychiatric treatment research demonstrating the efficacy of psychotherapy with persons labeled “schizophrenic” These chapters combined with a review of empirical studies demonstrate to readers the efficacy of psychotherapy with psychotic patients. Students or experienced professionals in any of the mental health fields, including psychotherapy, counseling, clinical psychology, clinical social work, and Re-evaluation Counseling will find Psychosocial Approaches to Deeply Disturbed Persons a necessity for most effectively and humanely treating clients with serious psychiatric diagnoses.
In a bold new approach to the lives of the Founding Fathers and the principles they embraced, Breggin shows how the same ideals that inspired the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence can motivate and guide people today to live happier and more satisfying lives.
An explanation of the common principles of conflict resolution on every level discusses self-help, psychotherapy, and family therapy and discloses the impact and origins of guilt and anxiety.
At a time when biological psychiatry claims that drugs and electroshock are the best methods for helping deeply disturbed persons, mental health professionals need to be reminded that psychological and social approaches to mental illnesses remain more effective, less harmful, and much more able to address the real needs of recovery, growth, and development for affected persons. Psychosocial Approaches to Deeply Disturbed Persons empowers counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to trust their intuitive and clinical understanding of how to help seriously disturbed people through humane, caring approaches.Psychosocial Approaches to Deeply Disturbed Persons introduces mental health professionals to an array of psychological and social alternatives that are available for helping patients considered “psychotic” or very emotionally disturbed. Focusing on psychological and social approaches to helping people who become labeled “psychotic” or who carry serious psychiatric diagnoses, contributors show mental health professionals psychological, social, and spiritual alternatives for approaching or treating these individuals. Readers learn about: a successful model for nonmedical, non-drug residential treatment centers utilizing the artwork of psychotic patients case histories of psychoanalytic therapy group therapy to help families with a “schizophrenic” member improve communication Re-evaluation Counseling (RC) with disturbed individuals psychoanalytically-oriented therapy World Health Organization research which demonstrates the positive effect of extended family and social relationships and the negative effect of modern biopsychiatric treatment research demonstrating the efficacy of psychotherapy with persons labeled “schizophrenic”These chapters combined with a review of empirical studies demonstrate to readers the efficacy of psychotherapy with psychotic patients. Students or experienced professionals in any of the mental health fields, including psychotherapy, counseling, clinical psychology, clinical social work, and Re-evaluation Counseling will find Psychosocial Approaches to Deeply Disturbed Persons a necessity for most effectively and humanely treating clients with serious psychiatric diagnoses.
Dr. Breggin presents this fascinating, frightening, and dramatic look at people driven to suicide, murder, and other violent behaviors by the psychotropic medications that were meant to help them.
A psychiatrist takes a critical look at this SSRI and newer medications that are among the most frequently prescribed drugs in America. Prozac. Millions of Americans are on it. And just about everyone else is wondering if they should be on it, too. The claims of the pro‐Prozac chorus are enticing: that it can cure everything from depression (the only disorder for which Prozac was originally approved) to fear of public speaking, PMS, obesity, shyness, migraine, and back pain—with few or no side effects. But is the reality quite different? At what price do we buy Prozac‐induced euphoria and a shiny new personality? Psychiatrist Peter Breggin, MD, and coauthor Ginger Ross Breggin answer these and other crucial questions in Talking Back to Prozac. They explain what Prozac is and how it works, and they take a hard look at the real story behind today’s most controversial drug: The fact that Prozac was tested in trials of four to six weeks in length before receiving FDA approval The difficulty Prozac’s manufacturer had in proving its effectiveness during these tests The information on side effects that the FDA failed to include in its final labeling requirements How Prozac acts as a stimulant not unlike the addictive drugs cocaine and amphetamine The dangers of possible Prozac addiction and abuse The seriousness and frequency of Prozac’s side effects, including agitation, insomnia, nausea, diarrhea, loss of libido, and difficulty reaching orgasm The growing evidence that Prozac can cause violence and suicide The social and workplace implications of using the drug not to cure depression but to change personality and enhance performance Using dramatic case histories as well as scientific research and carefully documented evidence, the Breggins expose the potentially damaging effects of Prozac. They also describe the resounding success that has been achieved with more humane alternatives for the treatment of depression. Talking Back to Prozac provides essential information for anyone who takes Prozac or is considering taking it, and for those who prescribe it.
From the author of Toxic Psychiatry and Talking Back to Prozac: "Peter Breggin is the conscience of American psychiatry. Once more he updates us on the real evidence with respect to the safety and effectiveness of specific psychiatric medications and ECT. This information is needed by all mental health professionals, as well as patients and families." --Bertram Karon, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University, Author of The Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia "Nowhere does false medical thinking do more harm than in the modern psychiatric argument that mental illness is easily diagnosed and then cured by a side-effect free drug. Nowhere is the correct psychiatric thinking more evident than in the books by Peter Breggin."-- William Glasser, MD, psychiatrist, author of Reality Therapy In Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, renowned psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin, M.D., presents startling scientific research on the dangerous behavioral abnormalities and brain dysfunctions produced by the most widely used and newest psychiatric drugs such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Cymbalta, Effexor, Xanax, Ativan, Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, Strattera, Risperdal, Zyprexa, Geodon, Abilify, lithium and Depakote. Many of Breggin's earlier findings have improved clinical practice, led to legal victories against drug companies, and resulted in FDA-mandated changes in what the manufacturers must admit about their drugs. Yet reliance on these drugs has continued to escalate in the last decade, and drug company interests have overwhelmed psychiatric practice. This greatly expanded second edition, supported by the latest evidence-based research, shows that psychiatric drugs achieve their primary or essential effect by causing brain dysfunction, and that they tend to do far more harm than good. New scientific analyses in this completely updated edition include: Chapters covering every new antidepressant and stimulant drug Twenty new guidelines for how to conduct non-drug therapy A chapter describing how to safely withdraw from psychiatric drugs A discussion of "medication spellbinding," explaining how patients fail to appreciate their drug-induced mental dysfunctions Documentation of how the drug companies control research and the flow of information about psychiatric treatments
Prozac, Xanax, Halcion, Haldol, Lithium. These psychiatric drugs--and dozens of other short-term "solutions"--are being prescribed by doctors across the country as a quick antidote to depression, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other psychiatric problems. But at what cost? In this searing, myth-shattering exposé, psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin, M.D., breaks through the hype and false promises surrounding the "New Psychiatry" and shows how dangerous, even potentially brain-damaging, many of its drugs and treatments are. He asserts that: psychiatric drugs are spreading an epidemic of long-term brain damage; mental "illnesses" like schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety disorder have never been proven to be genetic or even physical in origin, but are under the jurisdiction of medical doctors; millions of schoolchildren, housewives, elderly people, and others are labeled with medical diagnoses and treated with authoritarian interventions, rather than being patiently listened to, understood, and helped. Toxic Psychiatry sounds a passionate, much-needed wake-up call for everyone who plays a part, active or passive, in America's ever-increasing dependence on harmful psychiatric drugs.
This book can help people with mental health issues to survive and return to a normal life. Citizens believe, and the science shows, that medications for depression and psychosis and admission to a psychiatric ward are more often harmful than beneficial. Yet most patients take psychiatric drugs for years. Doctors have made hundreds of millions of patients dependent on psychiatric drugs without knowing how to help them taper off the drugs safely, which can be very difficult. The book explains in detail how harmful psychiatric drugs are and gives detailed advice about how to come off them. You will learn: • why you should not see a psychiatrist if you have a mental health issue • that psychiatric drugs are addictive • that the biggest lie in psychiatry is the one about a chemical imbalance being the cause of psychiatric disorders • that psychiatric diagnoses are unscientific and that doctors disagree widely when making diagnoses • that psychiatric drugs can lead to permanent brain damage • that psychiatric drugs should never be stopped abruptly because withdrawal reactions can be dangerous • why psychotherapy and other psychosocial interventions should be preferred over drugs • why you should generally not believe what doctors tell you about psychiatric disorders and their treatment • why volunteers have found the book so important that they have translated it into French, Portuguese and Spanish "Peter Gøtzsche has written a very personal account of his battle to get the institution of psychiatry to accept that its drugs are not the 'magic pills' they are made out to be. Every medical practitioner who prescribes them, and every person who takes them, should read this book and be warned." -- Niall McLaren, author of Anxiety: The Inside Story "Peter Gøtzsche's new book meets patients' need to get tools on how to deal with psychoactive drugs and, above all, not to start them. Gøtzsche is very clear about the role of GPs in medicalizing grief, misfortune, opposition, and bad luck. In this he finds the American emeritus professor of psychiatry and chairman of the DSM-III committee, Allen Frances, at his side. Both Gøtzsche and Frances have repeatedly stated that psychoactive drugs should not be prescribed by GPs because they lack experience in their use. And above all, unhappiness, grief, and bad luck are not signs of brain disorders, they belong to daily life." Additionally, Gøtzsche reveals that most psychoactive drugs do not work - 'they might only achieve statistically significant differences compared to placebo, but that's not what patients need.'" -- Dick Bijl, former GP, epidemiologist, and current president of the International Society of Drug Bulletins. "Peter C. Gøtzsche wrote this book to help people with mental health problems survive and return to a normal life. His book explains in detail how psychiatric drugs are harmful and people are told how they can safely withdraw from them. It also advises on how people with mental health problems can avoid making a 'career' as a psychiatric patient and losing 10 or 15 years of their life to psychiatry. You will find precious material to help plan and accompany this process of liberation from psychiatry." - Fernando Freitas, PhD, Psychologist, Full Professor and Researcher at the National School of Public Health (ENSP/FIOCRUZ). Co-editor of Mad in Brazil "In this work, addressed to people affected by the risk of being caught in the system of attention to mental health issues, Dr. Gøtzsche succinctly exposes, without beating about the bush, the damage caused by psychiatric medications, demonstrates that their widespread use is not based on evidence, which is mainly driven by commercial pressures that have nothing to do with the recovery of patients, and present safe ways to dispose of them, always gradually and under supervision of trustworthy people to minimize the syndrome of abstinence and successfully overcome all the difficulties that the process involves." -- Enric García Torrents, writing for Mad in Spain Learn more at www.scientificfreedom.dk From the Institute for Scientific Freedom
Medications for everything from depression and anxiety to ADHD and insomnia are being prescribed in alarming numbers across the country, but the "cure" is often worse than the original problem. Medication Madness is a fascinating, frightening, and dramatic look at the role that psychiatric medications have played in fifty cases of suicide, murder, and other violent, criminal, and bizarre behaviors. As a psychiatrist who believes in holding people responsible for their conduct, the weight of scientific evidence and years of clinical experience eventually convinced Dr. Breggin that psychiatric drugs frequently cause individuals to lose their judgment and their ability to control their emotions and actions. Medication Madness raises and examines the issues surrounding personal responsibility when behavior seems driven by drug-induced adverse reactions and intoxication. Dr. Breggin personally evaluated the cases in the book in his role as a treating psychiatrist, consultant or medical expert. He interviewed survivors and witnesses, and reviewed extensive medical, occupational, educational and police records. The great majority of individuals lived exemplary lives and committed no criminal or bizarre actions prior to taking the psychiatric medications. Medication Madness reads like a medical thriller, true crime story, and courtroom drama; but it is firmly based in the latest scientific research and dozens of case studies. The lives of the children and adults in these stories, as well as the lives of their families and their victims, were thrown into turmoil and sometimes destroyed by the unanticipated effects of psychiatric drugs. In some cases our entire society was transformed by the tragic outcomes. Many categories of psychiatric drugs can cause potentially horrendous reactions. Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, Xanax, lithium, Zyprexa and other psychiatric medications may spellbind patients into believing they are improved when too often they are becoming worse. Psychiatric drugs drive some people into psychosis, mania, depression, suicide, agitation, compulsive violence and loss of self-control without the individuals realizing that their medications have deformed their way of thinking and feeling. This book documents how the FDA, the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical industry have over-sold the value of psychiatric drugs. It serves as a cautionary tale about our reliance on potentially dangerous psychoactive chemicals to relieve our emotional problems and provides a positive approach to taking personal charge of our lives.
In Life Beyond the Gene, Steven Rose confronts the ideology of reductionism and ultra-Darwinism, with its insistence that all aspects of human life from sexual preference to infanticide, political orientation to violence, male domination to alcoholism, are in our genes and are the inevitable consequences of natural selection. These claims, Rose asserts, are not only socially naive, but fundamentally misunderstand the active and irreducible nature of living processes. Rose argues that life depends on the elaborate web of interactions that occur within cells, organisms, and ecosystems, in which DNA has one part to play. From early in their development, living organisms have to be capable of quasi-independent existence while growing to maturity. If we are to understand life, we must recapture an understanding of the entire living organism and its trajectory through time and space. Rose calls these trajectories lifelines. Provocative and incisive, Life Beyond the Gene provides a compelling response to those enthusiasts of the gene who would deny the complexity of life.
An explanation of the common principles of conflict resolution on every level discusses self-help, psychotherapy, and family therapy and discloses the impact and origins of guilt and anxiety.
Millions of children take Ritalin for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The drug's manufacturer, Novartis, claims that Ritalin is the "solution" to this widespread problem. But hidden behind the well-oiled public-relations machine is a potentially devastating reality: children are being given a drug that can cause the same bad effects as amphetamine and cocaine, including behavioral disorders, growth suppression, neurological tics, agitation, addiction, and psychosis. Talking Back to Ritalin uncovers these and other startling facts and translates the research findings for parents and doctors alike. An advocate for education not medication, Dr. Breggin empowers parents to channel distracted, disenchanted, and energetic children into powerful, confident, and brilliant members of the family and society.
Mental Health Practice: a guide to compassionate care" examines the relationship between mental health professionals and people using services during the recovery process. The disabling distress experienced by many people with mental health problems is viewed from a holistic, person-centred perspective with the road to recovery being seen as the result of true collaboration between professionals and service users. The first in-depth exploration of the intentional use of self in mental health care and its significance in the recovery journey, extensively updated New content on action research, eco-psychology and organisational culture Story boxes illustrating key themes in compassionate care Self-enquiry boxes engaging readers in reflective practice A primer on humanistic psychology and its relevance to mental health care
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