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 | : | First 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 |
Robert Whitaker
Paperback | Pages: 334 pages Rating: 4.16 | 1940 Users | 152 Reviews
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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.
Present Books As 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 |
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 ReviewsCritique About Books Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
What did I think? I think the abuse that the mentally ill have suffered over the years is repulsive. I bookmarked and highlighted many passages to share with my circle. To ignore the hell in which the mentally ill dwell is to turn your back on humanity. I can think of no worse life than that of a person who sought help and basically got turned into a vegetable for my troubles. And that is the least of the worries of those placed on neuroleptics or the "wonder drugs" of today. I am totally notThis was a difficult book to read. Like Anne Frank, I tend to believe that people are really good at heart. I assume they have the best intentions. After all, they were doing the best they could with what they knew, right? This book challenged that conviction. I kept envisioning people I love who struggle with various mental illnesses being subjected to the inhumane actions that too often passed for treatment in the past: near-starvation diets, electroshock therapy, drugged into a drooling
In the Preface to "Mad in America," the author points to a startling fact, that over the past twenty-five years, outcomes for people suffering with schizophrenia in the U.S. have worsened. More than 2 million Americans suffer with schizophrenia. Many end up homeless, in prisons, or in and out of psychiatric hospitals. Schizophrenia is estimated to cost the U.S. more than $45 billion annually. These facts led Whitaker to ask, "If the medications work so well, then why do 'schizophrenics' fare so
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 and
Details the treatment of mental illness for the past several hundred years. Interesting & sometimes shocking to read about some of the approaches that have been tried. I think one of the author's purposes was to make the psychopharmacological treatments of the last few decades seem just as ineffective and brutal as those from the past. Somewhat interesting, but got really boring/academic when it got to lobotomy & drug treatments.
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
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