[.ca] Your Drug May Be Your Problem, Revised Edition: How and ... (ISBN 0738210986)

From Amazon.com:
Psychiatric drugs are prescribed to more than 20 million Americans. This book aims to convince us to stop taking these drugs, and to show us how to do it safely. The authors contend that after 15 minutes with a physician or psychiatrist, Americans are prescribed medications that we may take for years or a lifetime, which can do more harm than good. We're irritable, anxious, emotionally numbed, physically fatigued, and mentally dulled. Yet when we stop taking the drugs, we encounter a whole new set of problems and setbacks. The book lists the adverse medical reactions you may encounter, plus additional personal, psychological, and philosophical reasons for limiting or rejecting psychiatric drugs. About half the book covers withdrawing from your drug--how to do it carefully and slowly, what to expect, and how to get help--with specifics for certain drugs and a chapter on easing your child off them as well. If you suffer from depression or another condition that warrants taking prescription drugs, you might refute the authors' contention that "the degree to which we suffer indicates the degree to which we are alive. When we take drugs to ease our suffering, we stifle our psychological and spiritual life." Certainly it would be lovely if we could "find a way to untangle that twisted energy and to redirect it more creatively," but is this really possible in all cases? The authors blame our dependence on drugs and psychiatry on big pharmaceutical-company bucks, psychiatric organizations, and even government agencies. Certainly we are an overmedicated society--but is the answer to take everyone off drugs? This provocative book says yes, and it's bound to be controversial. Of course, do not go off any prescribed medication without working closely with the medical professional who prescribed it, and do not use this book as a substitute for professional help. --Joan Price

Eye-opening counterpoint to our love affair with happy pills:
Having spent the better part of the last 12 years on a virtual A(tenolol)to Z(oloft) tour of drugs prescribed to treat my symptoms of low self-esteem, generalized and social anxiety, and depression, I began to suspect these pretty, candy-like pills--so quickly prescribed interchangeably by psychiatrists and GP's alike--were not only affecting me in the short-term, but also manifesting long-term (if not permanent!) changes in my body--most notably a reduction in sex drive and function and excessive sweating--all without an appreciable, lasting reduction in my original symptoms. Therefore, when I stumbled across this book on Amazon.com, I was intrigued; what I found in it's pages left me with mixed feelings of horror, relief, knowing, and suspicion. Not only did I recognize the myriad of side-effects and withdrawal symptoms from my own experience, but Drs. Breggin and Cohen portrayed with uncanny accuracy my attempts at enlisting the help of practitioners unwilling to comply with my wishes to de-medicate. Too many times I have entered my psychiatrist's office ready to reduce, if not eliminate, the amount of medications I take, only to emerge twenty minutes later with a prescription for an ADDITIONAL drug, often with the intent to treat the side-effects of the first! This book has given me additional tools and strategies with which to broach the subject at my next appointment. Am I afraid of the probable return of the original emotional difficulties that brought me there in the first place? Absolutely. Am I dreading the all-too-familiar onslaught of dizziness, nausea, restless legs, headaches, depression, and intense emotional suffering that accompanies withdrawal? No question. But I am tired of the endless stream of side-effects and general numbing I experience on each successive drug, which inevitably stops working within a few months only to be replaced by something "better". I'm tired of being afraid of my doctor's disapproval, my mental "illness", and of living. All this having been said, it's only fair to point out some of the obvious flaws of this book. As mentioned in previous reviews, it is repetitive in places, oddly devoid of any sense of actual experience with emotional suffering, and conspicuously one-sided. To claim that "the degree to which we suffer indicates the degree to which we are alive" is laughably new-agey and useless in a real-world context. Try sharing that bit of fluff with the person so deep in a depression that they can't get out of bed, can't care for themselves or their kids--indeed, can't even cry--and see how it is received. Also, the section on reducing your medications is a bit difficult (even dangerous) to follow if your medication comes in capsule form. Their suggestion that a capsule be opened and its contents separated into smaller doses isn't very helpful--how do you administer the smaller dosages? Couldn't it be risky? All in all, the weakest section of the book is Chapter 13, entitled "Psychological Principles for Helping Yourself and Others Without Resort to Psychiatric Medications". It's rife with mindless psychobabble, offering far too many pat fortune-cookie suggestions without any substantive plan for action. Most disburbingly, Breggin & Cohen tread a dangerous line by zealously condemning ALL use of psychiatric medications (all the while assuring the reader that they don't blame the user). Surely every schizophrenic or bipolar (and their loved ones) won't find solace in the simple realization "that emotional crises and suffering are opportunities for accelerated personal growth" (p210), nor by focusing "on finding a rational, loving, and confident center in yourself that can rise above your emotional crisis or suffering" (p205). Common sense would suggest that sometimes, for some people, a medication can be the sanest, if not the only answer. At any rate, this book provides a welcome counterpoint to a nation blindly medicating their children into conformity, eagerly requesting prescriptions for psychotropic drugs they see advertised during "Survivor", and assigning a convenient DSM label (with the inevitable, corresponding "miracle" pill) for every emotional fluctuation. In itself, "Your Drug May Be Your Problem" is best regarded as a jumping-off place for further research rather than the end of the line.

overly simplistic:
in this badly written book, you'll only find the obvious and already well known information presented in a very superficial and incomplete way. furthermore, it is very difficult to take it seriously, because it presents psychiatric drugs as terrible and absolute evils, without acknowledging their possible benefits. it portraits doctors as ignorant people that have been manipulated by marketing campaigns and patients as lazy, weak people. i don't like psychiatric drugs, but i found it impossible to give much credit to the incomplete and oversimplistic arguments presented by this book. psychiatric ailments are their treatment are a very complex issue, the authors of this book don't even come close to explaining it.

invaluable:
If you take prescription medication, this book should be in your personal library. If you are considering medication, this book will save you possibly years of wasted time and pain. I highly recommend it to anyone, more than i can put into words.

Life Saved by this Book...by a registered nurse:
Having been the victim of a mis-diagnosis by a well-meaning teaching hospital back in the 80's, I was thrust into the revolving door of mental health. Instead of being diagnosed with post-partum depression and post traumatic stress from a very dysfunctional childhood, I was labeled 'Bipolar'. Talk about a life defeating blow. That mis-diagnosis lead me to being on Lithium for over a decade, then, after it caused Lithium Induced Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus, a permanent condition that mimics Diabetes Mellitus, I was switched to Depakote. That lasted until I accidentally ran into this book here on Amazon.com three years ago. After being educated as to the dangers of long term use of both of these toxic medications, I began, with my cooperative psychiatrist's guidance, to slowly wean off the Depakote. (I did it over 20 months as Dr. Breggin advises.) I have been completely off medications for 5 months. I am sane, intelligent and self-respecting. I have my life back. I have also discovered the benefits of a relatively new therapeutic technique called Emotional Freedom Technique (see www.emofree.com) With the help of a professional therapist trained in this technique, I became aware of some disturbing events in my toddler years. EFT treatment totally healed me of the residual memories and their long term effects. Had EFT been around 18 years ago, I would still have healthy kidneys and could have avoided many years of shame, disillusionment and hiding being a 'recipient' of mental 'health' care. Thank you, Dr. Breggin, for saving my life. I am indebted. Everyone who works in the mental health field or traditional healthcare, needs to read this book. The medical model is not the only answer.

am you kidding?:
My brother in law, 20 years on schizophrenia medication, decided to take himself off his drugs after coming under the influence of a nurse in New Zealand. She advocates patients to read this book, and go off their medication. She's very proud of the fact that some 100 people have taken her advice. His behavior over a year became increasingly strange and paranoid. We were fearful for his mental well being. Last month his behavior was so 'psychotic', he'd lost so much weight, wasn't sleeping, that we took him , forceably, to a hospital. Now he is back on medication, working again, sleeping, back with his wife, logical, relaxed and feeling better. Perhaps many people taking anti-depressants can be helped by this book but for my relative it was the worst possible solution.