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Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
 
 
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Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill (Paperback)

by Robert Whitaker (Author) "A VISITOR TO THE "mad" wards of Pennsylvania Hospital at the turn of the nineteenth century would have found the halls astir with an air..." (more)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Product Description

A riveting social and medical history of madness in America, from the seventeenth century to today. . In Mad in America, medical journalist Robert Whitaker reveals an astounding truth: Schizophrenics in the United States currently fare worse than patients in the world's poorest countries, and quite possibly worse than asylum patients did in the early nineteenth century. With a muckraker's passion, Whitaker argues that modern treatments for the severely mentally ill are just old medicine in new bottles, and that we as a society are deeply deluded about their efficacy. Tracing over three centuries of "cures" for madness, Whitaker shows how medical therapies have been used to silence patients and dull their minds. He tells of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century practices of "spinning" the insane, extracting their teeth, ovaries, and intestines, and submerging patients in freezing water. The "cures" in the 1920s and 1930s were no less barbaric as eugenic attitudes toward the mentally ill led to brain-damaging lobotomies and electroshock therapy. Perhaps Whitaker's most damning revelation, however, is his report of how drug companies in the 1980s and 1990s skewed their studies in an effort to prove the effectiveness of their products. Based on exhaustive research culled from old patient medical records, historical accounts, numerous interviews, and hundreds of government documents, Mad in America raises important questions about our obligations to the mad, what it means to be "insane," and what we value most about the human mind.


About the Author

Robert Whitaker's articles on the me ntally ill and the drug industry have won several awards, including the George Polk Award for Medica l Writing and the National Association of Science Writers' award for best magazine article. A series he co-wrote for the Boston Globe was named a fina list for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. He lives in C ambridge, Massachusetts.
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A VISITOR TO THE "mad" wards of Pennsylvania Hospital at the turn of the nineteenth century would have found the halls astir with an air of reform. Read the first page
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4.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, informative and challenging., 5 Aug 2004
By A Customer
This book is a highly enjoyable read that approaches its subject matter from a chronological approach. Its argument is basically that the prevailing socialital attitude to the mentally ill is far more important in determining their treatment than any 'advances' in the field of psychiatry, psychology or nursing. The author then goes on to show how all care systems which beleive that mental illness is a disease or can be modelled as such invariably involve inhumane treatment.

The book begins with the moral treatment pioneers in the early life of american society. It details how that method became perverted and debased before it collapsed into punitative asylums. Then the author follows the treatments, the beleifs and actions of our care systems. He shows the rise of eugenics and how the history of mental health care is riven with cruelty.

This book is disturbing, surprising reading. By taking a chronological approach the book often details familiar things in unfamiliar ways. For example when the neuroleptic medications (now used near universally in treatment) were first introduced they were not at all advertised as 'treatment' for mental illness rather than as a form of chemical sedation similar in aim to giving patients a lobotomy.

The book closes by debating whether their has been any true advance in mental health care. Odd as this argument may seem the book makes a compelling case to reconsider our treatments and our methods.

In all, although the book is American, I would recommend this book for anyone with a connection to the mental health system who is wondering quite how it came to look as it does today.

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16 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Scientology?, 11 Feb 2007
I was really looking forward to reading this book, particularly at the message that mental illness should be treated without drugs. That was, until I discovered that the author is apparently linked to CCHR, which is said to be the front group for the Church of Scientology. It's published by Perseus books who also seem to publish a large amount of CCHR literature. I feel mislead. Read this book by all means, but read it in full knowledge of where the message may be coming from.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, important, meticulously researched, 27 Mar 2007
I have been working to try to help correct some of the problems in the mental health field for more than two decades and have written extensively about them myself, so I have done a great deal of reading about these subjects. Robert Whitaker's work is essential reading, articulate, and scrupulously documented. His writing style is compelling and clear.
I note that another reviewer on amazon.co.uk asserts that Whitaker is associated with the Citizens Commission for Human Rights, which, the reviewer asserts, is "said to be a front group for" the Church of Scientology. Actually, similar claims have been made about me, and those claims I know to be as utterly false with regard to Robert Whitaker as with regard to me. It is unfortunate and very frustrating -- and sometimes frightening -- that any of us who raise questions about anything in the mental health system are often assumed erroneously to be involved with the CCHR or C of S. Actually, by the way, the CCHR website includes the explicit information that they are associated with the C of S. Many people wish they had known that earlier. The CCHR and C of S, like anyone or any group, can take a certain amount of material and put it on their websites, which can give people the mistaken impression that those whom they quote are ASSOCIATED with or SUPPORT or ENDORSE the owners of the websites, and that may or may not be true. In the cases of the CCHR and C of S using material from Robert Whitaker, as from me, use of our material does NOT mean that we were asked for permission to use it on their websites or that we would have agreed if we had any legal control over the matter...which no one does.
It is unfortunate that [...] allows reviewers to make false claims about authors' affiliations. This kind of claim is both untrue and very damaging.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A necessary read for all - fantastic expose of psychiatry for what it is

Anyone interested in the background of psychiatry from the age of blood letting to present day atypical antipsychotics shold read this book. Read more
Published 7 months ago by F. Grant

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly important work, great writing
From Bedlam to chemical lobotomies; a harrowing history of the way people with mental illness have been treated in the US and other developed countries. Read more
Published 8 months ago by T. J. Rich

4.0 out of 5 stars Clearly Speaking
Having sat on both sides of the fence in the field of mental health, it is easy to get lost in this book. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Anon

5.0 out of 5 stars Scientologyphobia?
I recently purchased this book on Amazon and had a little read of the reviews. I couldn't help but be a little taken aback by the comment on the author's alleged affiliation with... Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2007 by Mr. J. S. Ronnquist

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing whatsoever to do with Scientology!
In response to the reviewer who earlier suggested links to Scientology, I must say it's a good job this book doesn't throw unfounded suggestions around as liberally as you do... Read more
Published on 13 Jul 2007 by Mr. David C. Stone

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