Will I love Anatomy of an Epidemic?

I was already familiar with Robert Whitaker’s work, but this one blew me away.

It is meticulously researched with personal stories that bring theory into its real-world relevance. I think I read it in two sittings as I was gripped by the power of his thesis: The proliferation in the use of psychiatric drugs is causing a dramatic worsening of Americans’ mental health rather than improving it.

Until then, I hadn’t come across a book on this theme that was so clearly and carefully argued and referenced.

There is an uncomfortable question in the world of mental health and treatment that everyone thinks about, but no one says out loud: If medicating mental illness with psychiatric drugs was really working, why are people getting worse?

This book examines over fifty years of research to find the answer and comes to a startling conclusion. I think it is the single most comprehensive and explanatory book on the market about the true nature and outcomes of psychiatric drugs and that it should be required reading in all medical schools.

It is also divided into multiple diagnoses (schizophrenia, bipolar, depression,… show more.

“That book changed my life”--when interviewing current and former psychiatric patients (and some critical psychiatrists), no book has so often been described to me in this way.

Anatomy of an Epidemic isn’t about forced treatment per se—it’s about the medications used to forcibly treat people today. An award-winning science journalist (and founder of the web magazine Mad in America for which I sometimes write), Whitaker critically examined every existing study of the long-term impacts of common psychiatric medications from antidepressants and ADHD stimulants to lithium and antipsychotics.

He found that, over time, nearly all psychotropics are associated with serious harms… show more.

I have talked to many individuals who have told me that Anatomy of an Epidemic literally saved their lives. Medical and science reporter Robert Whitaker—whose co-written series for the Boston Globe on the abuse of mental patients in research settings was named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize—is also the author of Mad in America, a history of the failure of mental health treatment. In Anatomy of an Epidemic, Whitaker makes a compelling case that the dramatic increases in serious mental illness in the United States are in large part due to the adverse effects of… show more.

This book may keep you up all night – it is hard to put down! Robert Whitaker challenges us to take a cold hard look at whether conventional psychiatric medications really deserve our respect. If not, why has the public been led to think that the psychopharmacology ‘revolution’ that began in the 1970s would solve mental problems? 

Why would I suggest this book for people interested in brain health and nutrition? Because it illuminates the progression over the last 50 years, during which all the previous knowledge of the role of nutrition in brain health was suppressed. And… show more.