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The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment
 
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The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment (Hardcover)

by Joanna Moncrieff (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 296 pages
  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1 edition (7 Dec 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0230574319
  • ISBN-13: 978-0230574311
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 513,621 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Shortlisted for the 2009 Mind Book of the Year 'This book is critically important and should be essential reading for all psychiatrists, politicians, service providers, and user groups. Why? Because Joanna Moncrieff's central tenet is right, and the implications for service delivery are profound. The book is closely argued and well referenced. Even if you disagree with some of it's overall premises, it is not legitimate to dismiss it. I urge you to read it if only as a prompt to a critical evaluation of the status quo, never a bad thing, and almost always an illuminating exercise.' - Sarah Yates, Cambridge, UK 'This is a sober and thoughtful book. I found it very engaging and worth the effort to be better informed about a subject that affects many of our clients and impinges on our professional lives as therapists.' - Existential Analysis (Society for Existential Analysis) '...Joanna Moncrieff, a practising psychiatrist and academic, has produced a devastating critique of the use of psychiatric drugs...This courageous book has the potential to revolutionise psychiatric practice and the care of people with many forms of mental distress. Many in the therapy professions will, I am sure, celebrate its message.' - Rachel Freeth, Therapy Today 'This book does what it says on the cover. It is a concise, powerful, well-referenced and well-constructed critique of psychiatric drug treatment...If I had the power to, I would make it essential reading on all counselling and psychotherapy trainings.' - Pete Sanders, Healthcare Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal '...I do not think that serious psychiatrists can afford to ignore Moncrieff's book. It is a mine of information; a provocation to think creatively and compassionately about patients.' - Athar Yawar, The Lancet 'This remarkable book should be required reading for all prescribers.' - Stuart Sorensen, Community Care


Product Description

This book exposes the traditional view that psychiatric drugs correct chemical imbalances as a dangerous fraud. It traces the emergence of this view and the way it supported the vested interests of the psychiatric profession, the pharmaceutical industry and the modern state. Instead it is proposed that psychiatric drugs 'work' by creating abnormal brain states, which are often unpleasant and impair normal intellectual and emotional functions along with other harmful consequences. Research on antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilisers is examined to demonstrate this thesis and it is suggested that acknowledging the real nature of psychiatric drugs would lead to a more democratic practice of psychiatry.
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The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment
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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading, 5 Feb 2008
By Dr. S. J. Yates - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This book is important and should be essential reading for all psychiatrists, politicians, service providers, and user groups. Why? Because Dr Joanna Moncreiff's central tenet is right, and the implications for service delivery are profound. There is little or no reliable evidence to suggest current drugs specifically treat an underlying biochemical abnormality. They are better seen as toxic or potentially toxic agents causing changes in brain function which may in some circumstances mask or alleviate symptoms. Rather than the current push within psychiatry to use available psychotrophic drugs to 'treat' as many people as possible, as early as possible, and to force extended compliance, the complete evidence base, in fact, suggests that use of drugs should be more limited and more cautious than it is at present, and that this would lead to better functional outcomes. This is counter-intuitive to many, which only serves to underline the importance of the book.
This book is psychiatry's Silent Spring. Joanna's book portends Scrambled Minds rather than a Silent Spring, but in both books we see illustrations of irresponsible behaviours and practices in the face of jaw dropping flaws and omissions in the evidence- base. Including the the planning, execution, interpretation, and dissemination of 'scientific' trials. The true nature of short term effect, long-term efficacy, safety, and cost/benefit is obscured by bad science and or the complexity of the issues involved.
Psychiatry is particularly vulnerable to systematic misreading and or distortion of the evidence-base because of the uncertainties surrounding diagnosis, mechanism of drug 'efficacy', identification of psychiatric and physical side-effects, and assessment of outcomes. The potential for habituation and or forced treatment, particularly long-term in the community, adds a unique ethical dimension. I have read much of the primary literature first hand, including the papers underpinning N.I.C.E guidelines, and Cochrane Reviews, and independently reached very similar conclusions to Joanna.
The book is closely argued and well referenced. Even if you disagree with some of it's overall premises, it is not legitimate to dismiss it. I urge you to read it if only as a prompt to a critical evaluation of the status quo, never a bad thing, and almost always an illuminating exercise .
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars THE PSYCHIATRIC TRUTH THAT DARES NOT SPEAK ITS NAME., 8 Mar 2008
By R. Johnson "Bob Johnson" (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
THE PSYCHIATRIC TRUTH THAT DARES NOT SPEAK ITS NAME.


Student massacres in the US since Columbine, are invariably heart-wrenching - last month there were four such multiple killings in a single week - what's happening and where will it end? There is one obvious explanation - but so far, it's proved too hot to handle. Perhaps now that Prozac and other psychiatric drugs are unravelling, an even harsher medical truth can emerge.

First let's get a grip on what goes on. Suppose all these student killers were drunk - that would make immediate sense. Alcohol is well known to confuse the mind, stifle normal rules of behaviour and thereby unleash violence. This would explain it all - acting, violently, while not in full control of their faculties - this is entirely characteristic of intoxication - and it closely resembles what all the perpetrators did. And the connection is closer than you think.

Alcohol itself does not feature in these massacres - but Dr Joanna MonCrieff's book makes the link painfully obvious, concluding (p224). ". . . exposing our miracle cures as psychoactive chemicals, which distort normal brain function by producing a state of intoxication." [my emphasis]. This is a tightly argued book providing irrefutable evidence that no psychiatric drug is superior to alcohol. Worse - whatever effects they produce arise through varying degrees of confusion or sedation - the ominously termed drug-induced `frontal lobe syndrome'. This is the awful psychiatric truth that dares not speak its name.

The myth she so punctiliously punctures has a long history of obfuscation. Fifty-five years ago the `Nine Hospital Study', which started the whole thing off, did not prove that the new `tranquilisers' cured schizophrenia. What they showed was that after 6 weeks there were fewer symptoms - the sedative effect, but that after 12 months the drugged patients were worse - the zombie effect. Psychiatrists and legislators have shamefully ignored this ever since.

Dr MonCrieff leaves no wriggle room for purblind psychiatrists or legislators. In my 45 years as a psychiatrist, I've never seen a clearer condemnation of today's psychiatry. The book's target audience is academic, and sadly its tone and price reflect this - but the last chapter says it all, and should be compulsory reading for every psychiatrist, every politician and every consumer of these increasingly potent drugs. Dangerous mandatory and toxic medical practices will otherwise continue unabated - until others match Dr MonCrieff's courage, and publicise this devastating message.



Dr Bob Johnson Wednesday, 27 February 2008

Consultant Psychiatrist,

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Eye opener, 4 Jun 2009
By A. Booth (uk) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I hope in time this book will be looked at as a changing factor into how medication is handed out in the mental health arena without a second thought. The book de mists the screen that is up which surrounds medication, its uses and its effects. I would reccomend this book to anyone that works in health, has family/friends in the mental health system, and most importantly people that take the drugs themselves.

This is a very important book that offers people knowledge and facts about medication used in mental health. It is written so that most people can understand without needing a medical degree, it does contain some jargon and statistics, but these are all explained with clarity.

a must have book.
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4.0 out of 5 stars well researched review of psychiatric medication
Raises a lot of interesting questions about psychiatry and the medications used.I'm not sure if medication has ever been promoted as a 'cure' for mental illness by psychiatrists... Read more
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