Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
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Type
Book
Authors
ISBN 10
0465020143
ISBN 13
9780465020140
Category
Sociology
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Publication Year
2010
Publisher
Pages
368
Tags
Description
This book criticizes the current state of psychiatric treatment in the United States by grounding it in a history of scientific ignorance, cruelty, and stigma towards the mentally ill. Author Robert Whitaker recounts the history of treatment for people with severe mental illness, from the 18th century attitude of essentially torturing patients into submission, through the 19th century’s “moral treatments” which respected patients’ humanity and yielded better outcomes, and into the early 20th century’s flirtations with eugenics and lobotomy and the current era of widespread use of antipsychotic drugs. Whitaker accuses pharmaceutical companies of lying to the public about the efficacy of neuroleptic and other antipsychotic drugs, which, he argues, do not significantly improve outcomes among patients and in fact may create more problems than they solve. He relies on scientific studies and first-hand accounts from patients to make his case that care similar to the “moral treatments” of the 19th century would be more effective than current treatments.
Number of Copies
1
Library | Accession No | Call No | Copy No | Edition | Location | Availability |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Main | 86 | 1 | Yes |