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83rd out of 104 books
—
73 voters
Doctoring the Mind: Is Our Current Treatment of Mental Illness Really Any Good?
Toward the end of the twentieth century, the solution to mental illness seemed to be found. It lay in biological solutions, focusing on mental illness as a problem of the brain, to be managed or improved through drugs. We entered the "Prozac Age" and believed we had moved far beyond the time of frontal lobotomies to an age of good and successful mental healthcare. Biologic...more
Hardcover, 363 pages
Published
September 30th 2009
by New York University Press
(first published June 25th 2009)
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What is madness? This is not nearly as easy a question to answer as you might think. Firstly, you might want to say that to be mad is to act in a way that is different from those around you – but you might also want to say that acting differently to those around you is often a pretty good definition of being sane too. Okay, so perhaps you could say that being mad is to act irrationally, but again, one man’s reason is another woman’s insanity, so who is to judge?
If you were a psychiatrist you mi...more
If you were a psychiatrist you mi...more
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Excellent and would be worrying if you did not already suspect that medication outruns the evidence to support its use. The upshot is that the more intrusive treatments have in the past been held to be helpful when they were not: leucotomy, insulin coma, ECT and that drug treatments are often pursued at damaging levels since individual variation is not adequately allowed for. Talking therapies are less intrusive but there is no evidence that any one sort works better than any other sort and perh...more
I bought this book for its antipsychiatric spirit and now I simply love it for the philosophical, practical and clinical questions it poses for psychology. Bentall has managed through a great structure and sequence of his thinking to take the reader (even one who is not professionally connected to psychology) from the origins of the antipsychiatric movement to the modern day applications in autonomy enhancing facilities/services. I was impressed by the body of literature he presents to support h...more
Discusses the (unfortunately viewed by many in the profession as radical) idea that those who experience psychosis may benefit from therapy. Bentall does not rule out "judicious" use of antipsychotics but cautions against blindly assuming life events (as opposed to mere brain chemistry) do not play key role in formation of psychotic symptoms. Compassionate and well-written.
Still going! Completely fascinating but a struggle for my non-scientific head now and then. Brilliant all the same. Will finish it....
Rah rah. A truly fascinating critique of the medical paradigm, as well as a collection of hard facts that must be addressed.
A must for those who question the medical model of 'mental illness' and those who don't!
Apr 13, 2012
talkingtocactus
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i'm dipping in and out of this as opposed to reading straight thru but it's really interesting and a useful read for anyone interested in mental health issues
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