by Elliot Valenstein
Claiming that there are no widely accepted theories of mental illness and that therapies are guided more by marketing than lab work hasn't won Valenstein many friends in psychiatry, but his scientific credibility is impeccable, and, better for the reader, his explanations of his doubts are clear and sensible. Whether discussing the "good old days" of insulin coma and electroshock therapies (after which drugs seemed a humane godsend) or the modern prospects of scientific research and medical clinics owned and directed by pharmaceutical companies, he maintains a calm, measured style that seeks to clothe the emperor, not replace him. Blaming the Brain is a powerful, thoroughly enjoyable book that will provoke much-needed thought and discussion on all sides of this important topic. - Rob Lightner Book Description Over the last thirty years, there has been a radical shift in thinking about the causes of mental illness. The psychiatric establishment and the health care industry have shifted 180 degrees from blaming mother to blaming the brain as the source of mental disorders. Whereas experience and environment were long viewed as the root causes of most emotional problems, now it is common to believe that mental disturbances - from depression and anxiety to schizophrenia - are determined by brain chemistry. And many people have come to accept the broader notion that their very personalities are determined by brain chemistry as well. In his award-winning, meticulously researched, and elegantly written history of psychosurgery, Great and Desperate Cures, Elliot Valenstein exposed the great injury to thousands of lives that resulted when the medical establishment embraced an unproven approach to mental illness. Now, in Blaming the Brain he exposes the many weaknesses inherent in the scientific arguments supporting the widely accepted theory that biochemical imbalances are the main cause of mental illness. Valenstein reveals how, beginning in the 1950s, the accidental discovery of a few mood-altering drugs stimulated an enormous interest in psychopharmacology, resulting in staggering growth and profits for the pharmaceutical industry. He lays bare the commercial motives of drug companies and their huge stake in expanding their markets. Prozac, Thorazine, and Zoloft are just a few of the psychoactive drugs that have dramatically changed practice in the mental health profession. Physicians today prescribe them in huge numbers even though, as several major studies reveal, their effectiveness and safety have been greatly exaggerated. Part history, part science, part exposé, and part solution, Blaming the Brain sounds a clarion call throughout our culture of quick-fix pharmacology and our increasing reliance on drugs as a cure-all for mental illness. This brilliant, provocative book will force patients, practitioners, and prescribers alike to rethink the causes of mental illness and the methods by which we treat it. Synopsis
In Blaming the Brain Elliot Valenstein
exposes the many weaknesses inherent in the scientific arguments supporting
the widely accepted theory that biochemical imbalances are the main cause
of mental illness. Valenstein reveals how, beginning in the 1950s, the
accidental discovery of a few mood-altering drugs stimulated an enormous
interest in psychopharmacology, resulting in staggering growth and profits
for the pharmaceutical industry. He lays bare the commercial motives of
drug companies and their huge stake in expanding their markets. Prozac,
Thorazine, and Zoloft are just a few of the psychoactive drugs that have
dramatically changed practice in the mental health profession. Physicians
today prescribe them in huge numbers even though, as several major studies
reveal, their effectiveness and safety have been greatly exaggerated. 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, harmful.
|
