Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications

Rating:
Summary: Eye-opening counterpoint to our love affair with happy pills
Review: Having spent the better part of the last 12 years on a virtual A(tenolol)to Z(oloft) tour of drugs prescribed to treat my symptoms of low self-esteem, generalized and social anxiety, and depression, I began to suspect these pretty, candy-like pills--so quickly prescribed interchangeably by psychiatrists and GP's alike--were not only affecting me in the short-term, but also manifesting long-term (if not permanent!) changes in my body--most notably a reduction in sex drive and function and excessive sweating--all without an appreciable, lasting reduction in my original symptoms. Therefore, when I stumbled across this book on Amazon.com, I was intrigued; what I found in it's pages left me with mixed feelings of horror, relief, knowing, and suspicion. Not only did I recognize the myriad of side-effects and withdrawal symptoms from my own experience, but Drs. Breggin and Cohen portrayed with uncanny accuracy my attempts at enlisting the help of practitioners unwilling to comply with my wishes to de-medicate. Too many times I have entered my psychiatrist's office ready to reduce, if not eliminate, the amount of medications I take, only to emerge twenty minutes later with a prescription for an ADDITIONAL drug, often with the intent to treat the side-effects of the first! This book has given me additional tools and strategies with which to broach the subject at my next appointment. Am I afraid of the probable return of the original emotional difficulties that brought me there in the first place? Absolutely. Am I dreading the all-too-familiar onslaught of dizziness, nausea, restless legs, headaches, depression, and intense emotional suffering that accompanies withdrawal? No question. But I am tired of the endless stream of side-effects and general numbing I experience on each successive drug, which inevitably stops working within a few months only to be replaced by something "better". I'm tired of being afraid of my doctor's disapproval, my mental "illness", and of living.

All this having been said, it's only fair to point out some of the obvious flaws of this book. As mentioned in previous reviews, it is repetitive in places, oddly devoid of any sense of actual experience with emotional suffering, and conspicuously one-sided. To claim that "the degree to which we suffer indicates the degree to which we are alive" is laughably new-agey and useless in a real-world context. Try sharing that bit of fluff with the person so deep in a depression that they can't get out of bed, can't care for themselves or their kids--indeed, can't even cry--and see how it is received. Also, the section on reducing your medications is a bit difficult (even dangerous) to follow if your medication comes in capsule form. Their suggestion that a capsule be opened and its contents separated into smaller doses isn't very helpful--how do you administer the smaller dosages? Couldn't it be risky? All in all, the weakest section of the book is Chapter 13, entitled "Psychological Principles for Helping Yourself and Others Without Resort to Psychiatric Medications". It's rife with mindless psychobabble, offering far too many pat fortune-cookie suggestions without any substantive plan for action. Most disburbingly, Breggin & Cohen tread a dangerous line by zealously condemning ALL use of psychiatric medications (all the while assuring the reader that they don't blame the user). Surely every schizophrenic or bipolar (and their loved ones) won't find solace in the simple realization "that emotional crises and suffering are opportunities for accelerated personal growth" (p210), nor by focusing "on finding a rational, loving, and confident center in yourself that can rise above your emotional crisis or suffering" (p205). Common sense would suggest that sometimes, for some people, a medication can be the sanest, if not the only answer.

At any rate, this book provides a welcome counterpoint to a nation blindly medicating their children into conformity, eagerly requesting prescriptions for psychotropic drugs they see advertised during "Survivor", and assigning a convenient DSM label (with the inevitable, corresponding "miracle" pill) for every emotional fluctuation. In itself, "Your Drug May Be Your Problem" is best regarded as a jumping-off place for further research rather than the end of the line.

Rating:
Summary: Their claims are not exaggerated - they are based on facts
Review: I am a licensed clinical social worker who supervises other clinical social workers in a well-respected Treatment Foster Care program. I know for a fact that psychiatrists often prescribe Ritalin, anti-psychotic drugs and powerful anti-depressants to seven and eight year old children. Once the prescribing begins, it often escalates and rarely does a child get taken off meds. These are not "occasional" psychiatric practices - they are the rule, not the exception, with this population.

Before reviewers claim Breggin and Cohen are "narrow minded" or "extreme," they need to read eight or ten other source books (among them:From Placebo to Panacea, by Fisher and Greenberg; Blaming the Brain, by Valenstein; Talking Back to Prozac, by Breggin and Breggin; The Tripple Helix, by Lewontin). These are writers of substance, with well-documented arguments. They present clear pictures of the gaping holes in the biopsychiatric model and the shoddy, self-serving research that allegedly supports that model.

Several of these books present detailed indictments of the degree to which huge financial interests dominate psychiatry and drug research; they present clear and verifiable information (of which most psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers seem unaware) about the questionable effectiveness and all-too-common dangers of these drugs.

I don't doubt that a number of people have felt their lives saved by these drugs. But there is much research to support psycho-social interventions which do at least as well as psychiatric meds, without the dangers and side effects. This research is hard to find in the U.S., largely because of the huge amount of money the pharmaceutical companies spend supporting the American Psychiatric Association, NAMI, CHADD, the medical journals, and academic researchers. Studies which don't reinforce drug companies' vested interests are very hard to fund, and harder to publish. The latest figure I've seen: the drug companies in a recent year spent over 13 billion dollars on promotion alone. Dr. Martin Keller, a lead researcher in a major study supporting the use of anti-depressant medication was reported by Glenmullen and the Boston Globe to have received income of over $500,000 dollars from drug companies in a single year.

The efficacy of psychiatric drugs is way overstated. Their damage is vastly minimized by the drug companies, the researchers and the FDA. Read Breggin's Talking Back to Prozac, and Glenmullen's Prozac Backlash. See if you can find, anywhere, a point by point refutation of their specific charges about fudged drug studies and naked economic influence on "scientific" research. You won't find the drug companies, the FDA or the psychiatric establishment addressing these issues head on, fact for fact, because they know they have no response.

Don't just read this one book by Breggin and Cohen. Keep looking. No psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker or counsellor should consider themselves prepared to engage in ethical and informed practice until they have read and seriously considered the other books cited above, as well as several other books by Breggin (e.g., Toxic Psychiatry, Talking Back to Ritalin, The War Against Children of Color).

Rating:
Summary: Finally!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: overly simplistic
Review: If you take prescription medication, this book should be in your personal library. If you are considering medication, this book will save you possibly years of wasted time and pain. I highly recommend it to anyone, more than i can put into words.

Rating:
Summary: overly simplistic
Review: in this badly written book, you'll only find the obvious and already well known information presented in a very superficial and incomplete way. furthermore, it is very difficult to take it seriously, because it presents psychiatric drugs as terrible and absolute evils, without acknowledging their possible benefits. it portraits doctors as ignorant people that have been manipulated by marketing campaigns and patients as lazy, weak people. i don't like psychiatric drugs, but i found it impossible to give much credit to the incomplete and oversimplistic arguments presented by this book. psychiatric ailments are their treatment are a very complex issue, the authors of this book don't even come close to explaining it.

Rating:
Summary: This Book Can Help You Save Your Own Life
Review: Like many people, I've worked in high-tech industries. The money was great, but the hours were long and the stress was incredible. There was always one more project, always crises breaking out, always the unpleasantness of watching one's back while covering one's butt -- from my point of view, Dilbert was (and still is) often more painful to read than funny. After fifteen years of modest success, all hell suddenly broke loose in my life. My marriage fell apart; my husband cleaned out our joint bank account and "borrowed" tens of thousands he never repaid; I got hit with a huge tax bill. And then, I got involved with a married man at work who looked like the White Knight to me and like Evil Incarnate to everyone else. I fell apart. Each day it got harder and harder to get out of bed and go to work. I couldn't concentrate anymore. I found a "pDoc" who prescribed a variety of ADHD meds, each of which originally helped -- but then eventually made me more hyper, anxious, depressed and/or volatile. I felt I needed to keep going -- my job performance was suffering -- so begged my doctor for something to calm me down and help me sleep, and Xanax was added to the mix. Things got worse, but I thought they were better. When I should have felt grief or worry and acted upon those feelings, I took Xanax, instead. Friends I loved dearly who'd stood by me for decades got fed up with me and vanished from my life. How unreasonable of them! In tears, I took a Xanax. Eventually, I quit my job, rather than taking a leave of absence. Very bad move!! To make a long story shorter, five years later I'm still fighting my way back. Got off the "uppers", now slowly getting off the "Benzos". When I hit a crisis and find I can't sleep, so want to increase the dosage "just this once", I often reach for this book. 'tis better to stay up all night and re-read than reach for that extra pill.

Remember to work with your pDoc (or GP, whatever) and NOT to be hostile or blaming toward them when you find you're addicted to medication they initially prescribed to get you through a rough patch. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF -- you went in with a complaint! Very few of us are forced to swallow a pill or watch TV and believe only the nice things the drug companies tell us in commercials for their products (while ignoring the information about side-effects). Any reasonable doctor will understand and behave compassionately when they are approached with sincere requests for help, rather than the pointing finger of blame for "not knowing better" or "not warning me." Remember that here in the USA we are a lawsuit-happy society and your doctor has good reason to fear that you may be "seeking compensation" -- in the majority of cases, unreasonably so! Reading this book will provide you with a set of tools that you can use to work with your doctor, pull yourself up out of whatever hole you got yourself into and act responsibly toward yourself and/or toward someone else in your life. Be an advocate for yourself, be strong, have courage and DON'T GIVE UP!!

Rating:
Summary: THE AUTHORS ARE RIGHT!
Review: My nursing training (Philadelphia) left me with a bad taste in my mouth for Psychiatry. I was apalled at the number of medications many of my psychiatric patients were taking, and the control these physicians had over those patients lives. Since the day I abandoned my wild, recreational drug-abusing ways, I have always resisted the idea of "medication for stress" with everything I had. Then came 1999, and a series of events that left me shredded. I gave in to the counsel of a medicated friend, and accepted Paxil from my M.D. What (at first) seemed like a miracle has become a nightmare. I have been having severe health problems (including sudden, unexplained obesity). After observing the effects of sudden Paxil withdrawl (behaviors and physical effects) in a dear friend, I started looking into Paxil and other related drugs. My search led me to this book. I am in those pages...so is my friend, my elderly mom, and several others I know. Dr. Breggin and Dr. Cohen's work is sound and extensively documented. Not only do they expose the problem, but they are committed to showing professionals - and their patients - a better way. They are advocates for much needed education and reform in the political and medical arenas. And most importantly, they know that medication is not man's greatest need when he is hurting. If you are a professional that prescribes these meds, a person who takes these meds, or if someone you know is on these meds, READ THIS BOOK! PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WITHDRAW THESE DRUGS WITHOUT (INFORMED!) PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE AND A LOT OF SUPPORT! See also their work relating to the mass-medicating of our nations hurting children (Ritalin, etc.).

Rating:
Summary: this is a fraud
Review: The author is not even a board certified psychiatrist-forget about being a specialist. His extreme views has earned him severe condemnation from the court of law(has been called a "he's a fraud or at least approaching that" by a Judge in 1997).


Rating:
Summary: Life Saved by this Book...by a registered nurse
Review: The authors are courageous, and pioneers in fighting the widely-held view that all or most mental disorders can be cured or alleviated with psychotropic drugs. Many psychiatrists probably do little investigation of the drugs on their own. It probably wouldn't matter because the FDA doesn't have the resources or time to prove or disprove the information provided by the drug companies when they bring a new drug to market. The pharmaceutical companies, in turn, try to report only the positive aspects of their research data. Most researchers report what the people that fund them expect them to report (i.e. drug companies). So, for the most part, the drug product literature is biased for the drug companies.

The key point made by the authors is that no one has correlated any biochemical levels with mental disorders. Serotonin is difficult to measure reliably. Psychotropic medicines, in some part, have a placebo effect in that you expect to feel better. The authors point out, in fact, that they can make you feel worse, and that the side effects in the literature are often relegated to a minor role.

Medically and scientifically, it's a ground-breaking venture into the stoically-accepted field that drugs are the cure-all for mental disorders. The authors caution, rightly so, that drugs must be withdrawn only on a long-term basis, and under the care of a medical doctor (psychiatrist). Recent research has been reported that there is a certain area of the brain that shows increased activity with the most common mental disorders. So it may be that all the drugs given over the years may have played a minor or pallative role.

However, the book needs much editing as it is quite repetitive. Additionally, the notes section should have been omitted letting the bibliography stand on its own. On its scientific value, it's probably 5 stars. As far as its editorial presentation, it's 2 stars.