"Mad in America" author Robert Whitaker
This book brings to light so many wrong turns taken by the mental health professionals over the last 250 years or so. It made me very sad to read because at one point it was acceptable to automatically water board, lobotomise, shock, sterilize, and even perform euthanasia just because a person's mind was broken in "normal" society's viewpoint.
It was also staggering to have my suspicions about where America's Mental Healthcare falls when rated against other country's systems. As you my have guessed... it's dead last.
Another irony was America's ties to Hitler with regards to mental illness and its cures. It amazes me to think that world war 2 could have been completely avoided if not for euthanazia research that was backed by some of America's richest people.
I applaud Robert Whitaker for doing his research well. And amazingly enough, I find myself glad that Hollywood is also jumping on the wagon to get *some* of the horrors of how we treat the mentally "ill" in America. "A Beautiful Mind", "The Soloist" to some extent, "The Number 23", and other movies that have the genre of horror attached to them.
Of course, if my stepson had not developed Schizophrenia, I would be just as dumb and blind to the problem as 99% of America is. But, I am not blind any more. And I feel strong - stronger every day actually - that I need to help bring the facts of mental illness to everyone's eyes. After all, usually bad things don't stop happening until every one is made aware and gasp in horror.
To return to the original stream of thought, anti-psychotic drugs - aka psychotropic drugs - are NOT the answer here. I am not sure that the treatment proscribed by the Quakers in the 1700s would work for the modern schizophrenic, but I do think it should provoke some serious thoughts in the currently sad world of psychiatry/psychology.
That's all I got.
