Print+CourseSmart

This is the first book to establish guidelines and to assist prescribers and therapists in withdrawing their patients from psychiatric drugs, including those patients with long-term exposure to antipsychotic drugs, benzodiazepines, stimulants, antidepressants, and mood stabilizers. It describes a method developed by the author throughout years of clinical experience, consultations with experienced colleagues, and scientific research. Based on a person-centered collaborative approach, with patients as partners, this method builds on a cooperative and empathic team effort involving prescribers, therapists, patients, and their families or support network. The author, known for such books as Talking Back to Prozac, Toxic Psychiatry, and Medication Madness, is a lifelong reformer and scientist in mental health whose work has brought about significant change in psychiatric practice. This book provides critical information about when to consider psychiatric drug reduction or withdrawal, and how to accomplish it as safely, expeditiously, and comfortably as possible. It offers the theoretical framework underlying this approach along with extensive scientific information, practical advice, and illustrative case studies that will assist practitioners in multiple ways, including in how to: Recognize common and sometimes overlooked adverse drug effects that may require withdrawal Treat emergencies during drug therapy and during withdrawal Determine the first drugs to withdraw during multi-drug therapy Distinguish between withdrawal reactions, newly occurring emotional problems, and recurrence of premedication issues Estimate the length of withdrawal

This book can help people with mental health issues to survive and return to a normal life. Citizens believe, and the science shows, that medications for depression and psychosis and admission to a psychiatric ward are more often harmful than beneficial. Yet most patients take psychiatric drugs for years. Doctors have made hundreds of millions of patients dependent on psychiatric drugs without knowing how to help them taper off the drugs safely, which can be very difficult. The book explains in detail how harmful psychiatric drugs are and gives detailed advice about how to come off them. You will learn: • why you should not see a psychiatrist if you have a mental health issue • that psychiatric drugs are addictive • that the biggest lie in psychiatry is the one about a chemical imbalance being the cause of psychiatric disorders • that psychiatric diagnoses are unscientific and that doctors disagree widely when making diagnoses • that psychiatric drugs can lead to permanent brain damage • that psychiatric drugs should never be stopped abruptly because withdrawal reactions can be dangerous • why psychotherapy and other psychosocial interventions should be preferred over drugs • why you should generally not believe what doctors tell you about psychiatric disorders and their treatment • why volunteers have found the book so important that they have translated it into French, Portuguese and Spanish "Peter Gøtzsche has written a very personal account of his battle to get the institution of psychiatry to accept that its drugs are not the 'magic pills' they are made out to be. Every medical practitioner who prescribes them, and every person who takes them, should read this book and be warned." -- Niall McLaren, author of Anxiety: The Inside Story "Peter Gøtzsche's new book meets patients' need to get tools on how to deal with psychoactive drugs and, above all, not to start them. Gøtzsche is very clear about the role of GPs in medicalizing grief, misfortune, opposition, and bad luck. In this he finds the American emeritus professor of psychiatry and chairman of the DSM-III committee, Allen Frances, at his side. Both Gøtzsche and Frances have repeatedly stated that psychoactive drugs should not be prescribed by GPs because they lack experience in their use. And above all, unhappiness, grief, and bad luck are not signs of brain disorders, they belong to daily life." Additionally, Gøtzsche reveals that most psychoactive drugs do not work - 'they might only achieve statistically significant differences compared to placebo, but that's not what patients need.'" -- Dick Bijl, former GP, epidemiologist, and current president of the International Society of Drug Bulletins. "Peter C. Gøtzsche wrote this book to help people with mental health problems survive and return to a normal life. His book explains in detail how psychiatric drugs are harmful and people are told how they can safely withdraw from them. It also advises on how people with mental health problems can avoid making a 'career' as a psychiatric patient and losing 10 or 15 years of their life to psychiatry. You will find precious material to help plan and accompany this process of liberation from psychiatry." - Fernando Freitas, PhD, Psychologist, Full Professor and Researcher at the National School of Public Health (ENSP/FIOCRUZ). Co-editor of Mad in Brazil "In this work, addressed to people affected by the risk of being caught in the system of attention to mental health issues, Dr. Gøtzsche succinctly exposes, without beating about the bush, the damage caused by psychiatric medications, demonstrates that their widespread use is not based on evidence, which is mainly driven by commercial pressures that have nothing to do with the recovery of patients, and present safe ways to dispose of them, always gradually and under supervision of trustworthy people to minimize the syndrome of abstinence and successfully overcome all the difficulties that the process involves." -- Enric García Torrents, writing for Mad in Spain Learn more at www.scientificfreedom.dk From the Institute for Scientific Freedom

This is an amazing text on the subject of coming off psychotropic drugs. This book is for anyone who has an interest in the preparation and process of what it takes to learn to come off these drugs and live life without them. Amazing stories of many who had been led to believe they were ill and now live life outside of the constricting paradigm of mental disease. A must read for therapists, doctors, users of these drugs and their family members.

Prozac, Xanax, Halcion, Haldol, Lithium. These psychiatric drugs--and dozens of other short-term "solutions"--are being prescribed by doctors across the country as a quick antidote to depression, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other psychiatric problems. But at what cost? In this searing, myth-shattering exposé, psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin, M.D., breaks through the hype and false promises surrounding the "New Psychiatry" and shows how dangerous, even potentially brain-damaging, many of its drugs and treatments are. He asserts that: psychiatric drugs are spreading an epidemic of long-term brain damage; mental "illnesses" like schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety disorder have never been proven to be genetic or even physical in origin, but are under the jurisdiction of medical doctors; millions of schoolchildren, housewives, elderly people, and others are labeled with medical diagnoses and treated with authoritarian interventions, rather than being patiently listened to, understood, and helped. Toxic Psychiatry sounds a passionate, much-needed wake-up call for everyone who plays a part, active or passive, in America's ever-increasing dependence on harmful psychiatric drugs.

The Icarus Project and Freedom Center's 40-page guide gathers the best information we've come across and the most valuable lessons we've learned about reducing and coming off psychiatric medication. Includes info on mood stabilizers, anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs, risks, benefits, wellness tools, withdrawal, detailed Resource section, information for people staying on their medications, and much more. Written by Will Hall, with a 14-member health professional Advisory board providing research assistance and 24 other collaborators involved in developing and editing. The guide has photographs and art throughout, and a beautiful original cover painting by Ashley McNamara.

"Here is an essential handbook on how to safely and more easily wean yourself (under medical supervision) off heavily over-prescribed psychotropic medications. I have used the program with my patients and it works!" Dr. Hyla Cass M.D. Author of Supplement Your Prescription

Medications for everything from depression and anxiety to ADHD and insomnia are being prescribed in alarming numbers across the country, but the "cure" is often worse than the original problem. Medication Madness is a fascinating, frightening, and dramatic look at the role that psychiatric medications have played in fifty cases of suicide, murder, and other violent, criminal, and bizarre behaviors. As a psychiatrist who believes in holding people responsible for their conduct, the weight of scientific evidence and years of clinical experience eventually convinced Dr. Breggin that psychiatric drugs frequently cause individuals to lose their judgment and their ability to control their emotions and actions. Medication Madness raises and examines the issues surrounding personal responsibility when behavior seems driven by drug-induced adverse reactions and intoxication. Dr. Breggin personally evaluated the cases in the book in his role as a treating psychiatrist, consultant or medical expert. He interviewed survivors and witnesses, and reviewed extensive medical, occupational, educational and police records. The great majority of individuals lived exemplary lives and committed no criminal or bizarre actions prior to taking the psychiatric medications. Medication Madness reads like a medical thriller, true crime story, and courtroom drama; but it is firmly based in the latest scientific research and dozens of case studies. The lives of the children and adults in these stories, as well as the lives of their families and their victims, were thrown into turmoil and sometimes destroyed by the unanticipated effects of psychiatric drugs. In some cases our entire society was transformed by the tragic outcomes. Many categories of psychiatric drugs can cause potentially horrendous reactions. Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, Xanax, lithium, Zyprexa and other psychiatric medications may spellbind patients into believing they are improved when too often they are becoming worse. Psychiatric drugs drive some people into psychosis, mania, depression, suicide, agitation, compulsive violence and loss of self-control without the individuals realizing that their medications have deformed their way of thinking and feeling. This book documents how the FDA, the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical industry have over-sold the value of psychiatric drugs. It serves as a cautionary tale about our reliance on potentially dangerous psychoactive chemicals to relieve our emotional problems and provides a positive approach to taking personal charge of our lives.

The Handbook of Psychiatric Drugs is a comprehensive, clear, concise and quick reference to psychiatric drug therapies, designed to guide the clinician on the selection and implementation of treatment for mental illness. Each chapter is organised by drug class and follows a standard format for ease of use. Concise sections on pharmacology and indications for use are followed by detailed information on drug selection, initiation and maintenance of treatment and withdrawal. Adverse effects, contraindications and drug interactions are also reviewed in detail, along with issues such as treatment resistance and treatment evaluation. A handy pocket-sized drug reference, the Handbook of Psychiatric Drugs makes it easy to keep up-to-date with new developments. It is an invaluable resource for all clinicians who use psychiatric drugs to treat medical and psychiatric illness, and an informative read for all those with an interest in the subject.

A psychiatrist takes a critical look at this SSRI and newer medications that are among the most frequently prescribed drugs in America. Prozac. Millions of Americans are on it. And just about everyone else is wondering if they should be on it, too. The claims of the pro‐Prozac chorus are enticing: that it can cure everything from depression (the only disorder for which Prozac was originally approved) to fear of public speaking, PMS, obesity, shyness, migraine, and back pain—with few or no side effects. But is the reality quite different? At what price do we buy Prozac‐induced euphoria and a shiny new personality? Psychiatrist Peter Breggin, MD, and coauthor Ginger Ross Breggin answer these and other crucial questions in Talking Back to Prozac. They explain what Prozac is and how it works, and they take a hard look at the real story behind today’s most controversial drug: The fact that Prozac was tested in trials of four to six weeks in length before receiving FDA approval The difficulty Prozac’s manufacturer had in proving its effectiveness during these tests The information on side effects that the FDA failed to include in its final labeling requirements How Prozac acts as a stimulant not unlike the addictive drugs cocaine and amphetamine The dangers of possible Prozac addiction and abuse The seriousness and frequency of Prozac’s side effects, including agitation, insomnia, nausea, diarrhea, loss of libido, and difficulty reaching orgasm The growing evidence that Prozac can cause violence and suicide The social and workplace implications of using the drug not to cure depression but to change personality and enhance performance Using dramatic case histories as well as scientific research and carefully documented evidence, the Breggins expose the potentially damaging effects of Prozac. They also describe the resounding success that has been achieved with more humane alternatives for the treatment of depression. Talking Back to Prozac provides essential information for anyone who takes Prozac or is considering taking it, and for those who prescribe it.