Product Description

How psychopharmacology has usurped the role of psychotherapy in our society, to the great detriment of the patients involved.

William Glasser describes in Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous to Your Mental Health the sea change that has taken place in the treatment of mental health in the last few years. Millions of patients are now routinely being given prescriptions for a wide range of drugs including Ritalin, Prosac, Zoloft and related drugs which can be harmful to the brain. A previous generation of patients would have had a course of psychotherapy without brain–damaging chemicals. Glasser explains the wide implications of this radical change in treatment and what can be done to counter it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #331015 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .71" h x 5.30" w x 7.98" l, .47 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Swimming against what he sees as the tide of prescriptions written for antidepressants such as Paxil, Zoloft and Prozac, psychiatrist Glasser (Choice Theory) argues that these drugs can do more harm than good. He asserts that there has been some scientifically sound psychiatric research that suggests the drugs can damage mental health and even the brain itself. Through selective case studies and extrapolation of evidence, the author urges readers to think twice before accepting "brain drugs"; he states that the effectiveness of certain selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors has been exaggerated by the drug companies. To his credit, Glasser does offer several practical alternatives for patients. But he seems to cherish his outsider status and questions the way psychiatry is practiced today. Group therapy transcripts and case studies constitute the bulk of his case, and chapters like "Luck, Intimacy, and Our Quality World" and "We Have Learned to Destroy Our Own Happiness" are designed to help the reader understand symptoms. Some of the anecdotes are compelling, and individuals seeking alternatives to drug treatments may benefit.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Psychiatrist Glasser, a much published critic of what he calls the psychiatric establishment, uses his latest book to decry the use of neurochemicals to treat patients with psychiatric complaints. He claims the practice is becoming so widespread that psychiatrists are all but abandoning old-fashioned therapy for the quick fix drugs offer. In addition, everyone from pediatricians to general practitioners is diagnosing mental illness and prescribing mind-altering drugs. These medications have not been proven effective, he says; moreover, they do great harm. He contends that most patients diagnosed as mentally ill are simply unhappy or, as he puts it, out of shape psychologically. He believes that, just as someone who is physically out of shape but not ill can train to become fit, a person who is depressed or compulsive can train to become mentally fit. What's more, he outlines clear measures anyone can learn and practice to stay off drugs and be free of psychiatric complaints ranging from mild depression to paranoid schizophrenia and rheumatoid arthritis. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

William Glasser, M.D., is a world-renowned psychiatrist who lectures widely. His numerous books have sold 1.7 million copies, and he has trained thousands of counselors in his Choice Theory and Reality Therapy approaches. He is also the president of the William Glasser Institute in Los Angeles.