Your
Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why
to
Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs
by Peter R. Breggin, M.D.
& David Cohen
Reviews
Amazon.com
Psychiatric drugs are prescribed to more
than 20 million Americans. This book aims to convince us to stop taking
these drugs, and to show us how to do it safely. The authors contend that
after 15 minutes with a physician or psychiatrist, Americans are prescribed
medications that we may take for years or a lifetime, which can do more
harm than good. We're irritable, anxious, emotionally numbed, physically
fatigued, and mentally dulled. Yet when we stop taking the drugs, we encounter
a whole new set of problems and setbacks.
The book lists the adverse medical reactions
you may encounter, plus additional personal, psychological, and philosophical
reasons for limiting or rejecting psychiatric drugs. About half the book
covers withdrawing from your drug - how to do it carefully and slowly,
what to expect, and how to get help - with specifics for certain drugs
and a chapter on easing your child off them as well.
If you suffer from depression or another
condition that warrants taking prescription drugs, you might refute the
authors' contention that "the degree to which we suffer indicates the degree
to which we are alive. When we take drugs to ease our suffering, we stifle
our psychological and spiritual life." Certainly it would be lovely if
we could "find a way to untangle that twisted energy and to redirect it
more creatively," but is this really possible in all cases? The authors
blame our dependence on drugs and psychiatry on big pharmaceutical-company
bucks, psychiatric organizations, and even government agencies. Certainly
we are an overmedicated society - but is the answer to take everyone off
drugs? This provocative book says yes, and it's bound to be controversial.
- Joan Price
From Booklist, September 1, 1999
Psychiatrist Breggin is known for his clear-eyed
views on much of current psychiatric thinking and practice. Working with
long-time psychiatric medications researcher Cohen, he offers a scientifically
based book that is also appealingly thought-provoking. Many psychiatrists
believe that most emotional and spiritual problems are produced by disorders
resulting from biochemical imbalances. Those putative imbalances, supposedly
resulting from biological and genetic causes, are, however, so much guesswork,
Breggin and Cohen say. Wealthy pharmaceutical companies and organized psychiatry
push the idea of imbalances because it has allowed easy diagnoses and high
profits. Even HMOs push psychiatric drugs, which can often have dangerous
long-term effects, as supposedly less costly than programs of psychotherapy.
And primary physicians and psychiatrists reach for the prescription pad
too quickly, Breggin and Cohen think. This is a book that stirs up the
sludge in the psychiatric pot, thereby serving a useful purpose. William
Beatty - Copyright© 1999, American Library Association. All rights
reserved
From Kirkus Reviews
Although the author goes overboard in arguing
against the use of any psychiatric medications, this guide nonetheless
raises worthwhile, challenging questions about inappropriate and excessive
medicating. It also offers sound, careful and hard to come by guidelines
on how to safely discontinue the various meds. Psychiatrist Breggin (Toxic
Psychiatry, 1991, etc.) and Cohen, a social work professor at the
University of Montreal, feel strongly that psychiatric medication is overprescribed
and misused, partly as a result of marketing efforts by pharmaceutical
companies. The basic question they pose is "What are our ultimate resources
in life - the places and persons to whom we turn for help, direction, and
inspiration?" Faith, connection with others, creative outlets, enjoyment
of nature, and physical activity are among the available appropriate resources
to encourage personal growth. But instead, the authors argue, more and
more people are relying on "a psychoactive or mind-altering substance"
Since we have an extremely limited understanding of brain function, they
further point out, we have only a vague notion of how these medications
work. And in the authors' experience, suppressing feelings and estranging
patients from their own emotions seriously hinders therapy. Brogan and
Cohen alert readers to the long list of side effects of such drugs, and
set out stringent recommendations for discontinuing them (too rapid a withdrawal
can cause very serious medical problems). Overall, these are thought-provoking,
generally well-based arguments, coupled with valuable advice. - Copyright
©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
The first book to expose the shortcomings
of psychiatric drugs and to guide patients and doctors through the process
of withdrawing from them.
Well over ten million Americans are prescribed
a psychiatric medication annually, for symptoms as varied as headache and
insomnia to depression and various psychiatric disorders. Unbelievably,
many of these drugs have not been formally tested to treat the problems
for which they have been prescribed. Scientifically documenting the need
for an end to this vicious cycle of inadequate approval, mis-medication,
and irresponsible inattention to adverse side effects, Breggin and Cohen
advocate compassionate and non-toxic therapies, and offer readers a roadmap
for sensible, safe withdrawal from psychiatric drugs.
Whether the drug is a sleeping pill, tranquilizer,
stimulant, antidepressant, mood stabilizer, or antipsychotic, Your Drug
May Be Your Problem reveals its documented withdrawal symptoms, demonstrating
what many doctors don't know, understand, or consider: withdrawal symptoms
often mimic the symptoms for which a person has been medicated in the first
place, a fact that frequently prompts doctors to mistakenly re-medicate
their patients at even higher doses. Armed with this essential background
information, readers will then be able to choose for themselves when and
how to withdraw from psychiatric drugs. Groundbreaking and empowering,
Your Drug May Be Your Problem offers readers what they have long
sought - a medically and psychologically sound program for freeing themselves
from psychiatric drugs, emphasizing throughout the importance for patients
to keep control over the withdrawal process.
Customer Comments
A reader from burlington,
ma, October 4, 1999
excellent book, your health depends on
being informed .
This is an excellent book. You won't find
out the side effects from these drugs from your psychiatrist, so you better
learn about them yourself. I only took haldol for six months and I have
side effects that haven't disappeared yet. I'm just hoping eventually they
will but not all people taking these drugs are fortunate in this regard
as you will find reading this book. I believe people in the psychiatric
profession belong in jail for brain damaging people against their will
with the courts backing them up. Anyway the best defense for your self
is to become informed by reading Dr. Breggin's books. If the entire world
were informed I guarantee you these people would be all out business like
they should be. I work in a vitamin store you may find some natural solutions
for your problems there. Good luck and read this book!
jesseheretic@yahoo.com from
Toronto, Canada, September 2, 1999
This book is a must-read for independent
thinkers.
In a culture so brainwashed with the "Doctor
as Deity" myth, it's time we started thinking critically about the sources
of information we rely so heavily on where our minds and bodies are concerned.
The cult-like mentality that insists we blindly "follow doctors orders"
discourages due heed to what our own questions are. This book serves as
a landmark in exposing the dynamics of this cult, and shatters the glass
bubble that has long-protected doctors from accountability. It's high time
we re-wrote the "doctor knows best" mantra. This is a must-read for independent
thinkers, and I challenge any psychiatrist with integrity to pick it up,
rather than leaving it to the powers-that-be to form their opinion for
them.
Berkleyan@aol.com from Berkeley,
CA, USA, August 31, 1999
An Important Alternative
This is an excellent book for professionals
and patients alike. The authors provide an important guide for those seeking
to get off psychiatric drugs. The book is very readable, and the authors
pulled off the difficult task of making it interesting to a wide variety
of people. Although Breggin and Cohen are outspoken opponents of the use
of psychiatric drugs, they understand and respect the fact that it is often
difficult for people to break free of their dependence on these drugs.
The book is a must for anyone taking or considering taking these drugs,
and for professionals seeking to help clients who want to stop using them.
dweitz@interlog.com - Don
Weitz from Toronto, Ontario Canada, August 23, 1999
will help you from being poisoned by
"safe" neurotoxins
Psychiatrist Peter Breggin and Social Work
Professor David Cohen have written a long-overdue book on psychopoisons
masquerading as "safe and effective medication". Your Drug May Be Your
Problem addresses many key issues such as your right to be fully informed
about these drugs, particularly their risks and non-medical alternatives,
and especially the practical steps you can take to withdraw safely from
the "antipsychotics" (neuroleptics), antidepressants and tranquilizers.
The "10-percent method" in chapter 8 should be a big help to many psych
survivors trying to withdraw. Other things I like about this book are its
clear explanations and warnings about serious withdrawal reactions and
its easy-to-understand language free of the usual psycho-babble. This book
could help save your health or life. Urge your doctor or shrink to buy
a copy and demand they stop listening to the multinational drug pushers!
A reader from California,
August 15, 1999
Excellent source of hard-to-find drug
information.
This is the perfect book for anyone who
wonders why she or he feels WORSE - whether emotionally or physically -
when using psychiatric drugs like Prozac or lithium. Both easy to understand
and thoroughly researched, "Your Drug May Be Your Problem" explains why
the drugs are dangerous, how to safely stop using them, and how to deal
with emotional crises without resorting to drugs. In a culture in which
psychiatric drugs are pushed by everyone from the White House down to the
neighborhood elementary school, this book is a refreshing change. I WISH
I'd had the information contained in this book six years ago when doctors
put me on a nightmarish regimen of psychiatric drugs. All in all, a fascinating
and enlightening read.
A reader from Chicago, August
4, 1999
Vital information for treatment providers
and consumers.
Peter Breggin and David Cohen have compiled
critically important information that should be read by mental health treatment
providers and consumers as well. The material is presented in a clear and
concise way and covers issues of medication effects, the "pseudo-science"
behind medications and discusses why medications are too often relied upon
as the only "effective" treatment. This book is a great resource.
A reader from New York,
August 4, 1999
Finally!
I'm a normally functioning working woman
with usual pressures from job, children, etc., and I'm amazed to see how
quickly my doctor has rushed to prescribe drugs for any complaints I voiced.
Xanax, Valium, Zoloft... Try to get off them once you're on them and your
doctor doesn't believe that they're making things worse! I found this book
to be a true revelation and wish it had been around before I got started
with drugs, when all I needed was some understanding - and maybe a vacation.
With age and maturity, I've realized that anxiety and depression are also
the price to pay for life's joys and accomplishments. This book brings
a really refreshing perspective, and is packed full of information that
I've read nowhere else. This is a must-read for anybody who's been handed
a prescription for psychiatric drugs.
See online
biography and comments by Peter Breggin.
* * *
PETER R. BREGGIN, M. D., is a leading critic
of psychiatric drugs and the psychopharmaceutical complex. He is a graduate
of Harvard College and Case Western Reserve Medical School, and was formerly
a teaching fellow at Harvard Medical School and a full-time consultant
with the National Institute of Mental Health. He is the director of the
Center for the Study of Psychiatry
and has been in the full-time practice of psychiatry in Bethesda, Maryland,
since 1968. Dr. Breggin is the author, with Ginger Ross Breggin, of Talking
Back to Prozac.
People DO have various problems with life.
Instead of naming and redefining these problems as various "mental diseases",
and labeling people with them, as is currently done within the psychiatric
community, these problems with life and living are best understood and
addressed outside of the traditional psychiatric paradigm. Why?
Because psychiatric "treatments" such as ECT, lobotomy, and powerful psychotropic
drugs are barbaric, based upon severe faulty scientific methodology, and
quite simply, harm people.
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