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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
giving choice through truth, 9 Nov 2004
This a must read for anyone who may wish to consider stopping taking psychiatric medication or wishes to be more informed about such drugs in general. There are few books around which give insight into how to stop taking psychiatric drugs and this is the best. On many occassions when people have stopped taking psychiatric drugs, they have become ill, often this is blamed on an underlying mental illness such as depression or schizophrenia and psychiatrists offer convincing arguments about the efficency of drugs to their patients, which helps establish a system of psychiatric slavery. Breggin and Cohen present the view that withdrawal or discontinuation of psychiatric drugs can in fact cause serious withdrawal syndromes, which in fact may mimic mental illnesses, such as psychosis or depression and some possible consequences of withdrawal may even cause death. It is of course vital to be properly informed about stopping any such medication and this book gives good information, whilst recommending clinical supervision, though this may not have to be from a psychiatrist.Highlighted is the lack of open and honest research by drug companies and their inflated claims about their products. This is especially topical as it has recently come to light that Glaxo kept quiet information which showed seroxat to be no more effective than a placebo, whilst having potential for serious side effects. The way in which certain drugs, the neuroleptics, have and are used as chemical restraints, is also themed. More and more drugs are being prescribed for mental illness and the truth is that very little is known about psychiatric drugs and their effects on the human brain, Breggin and Cohen do not pretend that they know all about the human brain but they do not have an arrogant attitude towards their fellow man either, some psychiatrists do and may even view those that they label as a different type of human being. This book shows that there are alternatives to drug "therapy" but does not give easy answers either. The truth is that if stopping drugs is your goal, it may be a difficult journey with no guarantee of success but it may be a very rich and rewarding experience too, if only partly successful. The best advice given is not to start taking psychiatric drugs if at all possible and if you do then it is best to use the least possible for the shortest time. It would be wonderful if all psychiatrists could read this book and affect changes but this will never happen. If you wish to stop taking psychiatric drugs then please read this book as a first step.
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by Peter Roger Breggin
by Peter Lehmann
by Joanna Moncrieff
