Dosed is a book that will be welcome to many, many people, and not just those who have taken medications. It covers psychiatric medications and the people who grew up taking them. Specifically, seeks to answer the question of how the medicated teens feel about who they are - their actual identities. This may seem like a non-issue, especially to those of us who have never taken these kinds of meds, let alone grown up on them. The author herself admits that this is something she had not considered for a long time. The truth is however, that taking a drug that can affect the way you behave, feel about the world or feel about your self can be thought of as affecting who you are.

Does it? That is the question, and it is a weighty one. The author follows the life histories of several young people who grew up on psychiatric medications. They have varied backgrounds and diagnoses and they have different outlooks on the issue. At one end we have Claire, whose parents were very forthcoming with her about her diagnosis and the medications she was on. While still a teenager, she spoke out about the issue of depression across the country and even made a documentary about it. At the other end we have Paul, who was raising in foster care. Unlike Claire, he received little to no information on either his diagnoses or the medications he was put on. His impression of the issue is understandably very different. Those are just two examples and there are a lot more who fall on a spectrum of feelings on the issues and faith in the drugs.

Dosed will be of interest to a wide variety of readers - those who take or have taken psychiatric medications, those with friends or family on medications or dosed with a mental illness, psychiatrists, therapists and any who are interested in the field, or finally, people like me who have never taken medication of any kind but who considered it at some point. For myself, I never considered taking medications, but as a teen who had a very hard time of things, I remember when the issue was brought up. I refused to consider it, largely because I felt that happiness brought on by medication would be "false". I wanted no part of it at the time. My thoughts have changed over time, but reading this book had me wondering how my life might have been different if I had taken something. Even having not taken anything, I could sympathize with many of those discussed in the book.

Dosed takes no sides - it is not an advocate for medication or for the idea that medications are unnecessary. Instead it covers the issues surrounding the issue and it does it in near exhaustive detail (it is thorough and even clinical in tone but not dry). As such, I imagine this will be considered a must-read book among those affected by or interested in mental illness for years to come.