Dr. Peter Breggin's ground-breaking and truth-telling new book, Medication Madness, is profoundly impacting in its focus on the dangerous side effects that can occur with psychotropic drugs. The one thing that the perpetrators of the many random appearing crimes such as the massacre at Columbine have in common is that they were taking SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) antidepressants. Dr. Breggin describes the spell-binding effects these, as well as other psychotropics, have on patients' minds. He documents many crimes where he has been an expert witness and the individual has been under the effects of involuntary intoxication.
This book is a necessity for every family's book shelf and should be a mainstay for every person who practices in any of the Mental Health Professions. It is a book that will also be enlightening for those who practice Mental Health Law. It addresses the myths regarding treatment with psychiatric medications. The evidence is clearly documented, indicating that taking such medications can be very harmful to patients and can devastate the lives of family members and friends who love and care for them.
Peter Breggin, M.D. is a Harvard-educated, main-stream psychiatrist and expert witness, who dares to proclaim that "the emperor has no clothes." He explodes the claim that those who are diagnosed with a mental illness must take medication to correct a chemical imbalance. Rather, taking such medications indeed induces a chemical imbalance in one's brain.
This book is written with clarity and empathy. It reads easily for both laymen and professionals.It truly may very well be the most important book written in this century about mood altering medications and the dire effects on the mental and physical health of those who take them. It is a must read for anyone who desires to be fully informed as to the consequences for those who take these drugs. Every professional and every consumer, potential consumer and psychiatric survivor has an invaluable resource in this book that "tells it all." I cannot overemphasize the importance of reading this important new work by the Conscience of Psychiatry, Dr. Peter Breggin.
Delores Jankovich, MA, LMSW
Overland Park, Kansas