Mention Books Concering Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
| Original Title: | Mad In America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill |
| ISBN: | 0738207993 (ISBN13: 9780738207995) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Robert Whitaker
Paperback | Pages: 334 pages Rating: 4.16 | 1940 Users | 152 Reviews
Relation To Books Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
In Mad in America, medical journalist Robert Whitaker reveals an astounding truth: Schizophrenics in the United States currently fare worse than patients in the world's poorest countries, and quite possibly worse than asylum patients did in the early nineteenth century. With a muckraker's passion, Whitaker argues that modern treatments for the severely mentally ill are just old medicine in new bottles, and that we as a society are deeply deluded about their efficacy. Tracing over three centuries of "cures" for madness, Whitaker shows how medical therapies have been used to silence patients and dull their minds. He tells of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century practices of "spinning" the insane, extracting their teeth, ovaries, and intestines, and submerging patients in freezing water. The "cures" in the 1920s and 1930s were no less barbaric as eugenic attitudes toward the mentally ill led to brain-damaging lobotomies and electroshock therapy. Perhaps Whitaker's most damning revelation, however, is his report of how drug companies in the 1980s and 1990s skewed their studies in an effort to prove the effectiveness of their products. Based on exhaustive research culled from old patient medical records, historical accounts, numerous interviews, and hundreds of government documents, Mad in America raises important questions about our obligations to the mad, what it means to be "insane," and what we value most about the human mind.
Describe About Books Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
| Title | : | Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill |
| Author | : | Robert Whitaker |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 334 pages |
| Published | : | April 17th 2003 by Basic Books (first published January 3rd 2002) |
| Categories | : | Psychology. Nonfiction. History. Health. Mental Health. Science. Mental Illness. Medicine |
Rating About Books Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
Ratings: 4.16 From 1940 Users | 152 ReviewsCrit About Books Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
A history of mental health care in America: the awful asylum's that used torture to keep patients in line, hospitals run by Quakers who offered patients a peaceful, loving retreat from the world, house calls performed by lobotomists, the transition from asylum to prison for the mentally ill, and the first pharmaceuticals to treat schizophrenia. A captivating history. Whitaker is known for his campaign against Big Pharma and the treatment of the mentally ill, but his history is comprehensive andThis work contains plenty of interesting facts about the advancements in the treatment of schizophrenics (in particular) in the U.S. health care system. That being said, the eventual condition of an all-encompassing "system" in the world of treatment was for these unfortunate souls a nasty development. It was enlightening to read that the treatment methods employed in the 19th century were much more closely related to those we now consider most humane and effective. (The "One Flew Over a
I read this thanks to an uncle suffering not only from bi-polar disorder, but also from the effects of many years of taking the various drugs associated with relief of his symptoms. This was a great, albeit heartbreaking, story of how the mentally ill have been treated throughout history, the rise of the medical profession and psychiatry's place in that profession, and the rise of the pharmaceutical juggernaut. When I see my uncle, I see someone who fell into a trap of looking for a miracle cure
This history of the treatment of madness in times leading up to our own backwards treatment of "mental illness" is a true wonder of scholarship and impartiality. True, the author shows science to be largely a sham concocted by those who speak and act "in the name of a science run amok," but he doesn't outright dismiss their findings-- he shows us the fairly obvious flaws and barbarism inherent in many acts perpertraited on the so-called "mad" in the name of progress and for anyone interested in
Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill, by Robert Whitaker, Basic Books, 2010 Revised Edition. Originally published in 2002. Mad in America is a searing indictment of our failure to relieve the suffering of the mentally ill and their families. In the interest of fair disclosure, I am a psychologist and have spent much of my life studying mental illness, teaching about it, counseling, and writing, mainly in the areas of Death and Dying and
Great read. Whitaker digests a huge body of historical and scientific literature to produce this tragic, compelling story of schizophrenia in America.The case Whitaker builds suggests that the majority of psychiatric patients in the United States have, for the past 50 years, been subjected to treatment that is detrimental to their recovery, as well as immoral and abusive. You'll question any faith you have in the moral infallibility of doctors. You'll be enraged at the corrupt, pseudo-scientific
The book Mad in America by Robert Whitaker is not Mad Science but an account of how science has been manipulated to serve the needs of pharmaceutical companies, medical and psychiatric associations as well as the reputations of countless medical experts, all at the expense of thousands of patients health and wellbeing. Its a disturbing read. It makes the reader madangry at how we, the laypeople, have been fed the myth of the broken brain that only medication can fix; medications like SSRIs which
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