{"product_id":"anatomy-of-an-epidemic-isbn-9780307452429","title":"Anatomy of an Epidemic","description":"\u003cb\u003eUpdated with bonus material, including a new foreword and afterword with new research, this \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller is essential reading for a time when mental health is constantly in the news.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this astonishing and startling book, award-winning science and history writer Robert Whitaker investigates a medical mystery: Why has the number of disabled mentally ill in the United States \u003ci\u003etripled\u003c\/i\u003e over the past two decades? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInterwoven with Whitaker’s groundbreaking analysis of the merits of psychiatric medications are the personal stories of children and adults swept up in this epidemic. As \u003ci\u003eAnatomy of an Epidemic\u003c\/i\u003e reveals, other societies have begun to alter their use of psychiatric medications and are now reporting much improved outcomes . . . so why can’t such change happen here in the United States? Why have the results from these long-term studies—all of which point to the same startling conclusion—been kept from the public? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOur nation has been hit by an epidemic of disabling mental illness, and yet, as \u003ci\u003eAnatomy of an Epidemic \u003c\/i\u003ereveals, the medical blueprints for curbing that epidemic have already been drawn up.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eAnatomy of an Epidemic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The timing of Robert Whitaker’s \u003ci\u003eAnatomy of an Epidemic\u003c\/i\u003e, a comprehensive and highly readable history of psychiatry in the United States, couldn’t be better.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSalon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eAnatomy of an Epidemic\u003c\/i\u003e offers some answers, charting controversial ground with mystery-novel pacing.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eTIME\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Lucid, pointed and important, \u003ci\u003eAnatomy of an Epidemic\u003c\/i\u003e should be required reading for anyone considering extended use of psychiatric medicine. Whitaker is at the height of his powers.” —\u003cb\u003eGreg Critser, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eGeneration Rx\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Why are so many more people disabled by mental illness than ever before? Why are those so diagnosed dying 10-25 years earlier than others? In \u003ci\u003eAnatomy of an Epidemic\u003c\/i\u003e investigative reporter Robert Whitaker cuts through flawed science, greed and outright lies to reveal that the drugs hailed as the cure for mental disorders instead worsen them over the long term. But Whitaker’s investigation also offers hope for the future: solid science backs nature’s way of healing our mental ills through time and human relationships. Whitaker tenderly interviews children and adults who bear witness to the ravages of mental illness, and testify to their newly found “aliveness” when freed from the prison of mind-numbing drugs.” \u003cb\u003e—Daniel Dorman, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine and author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eDante’s Cure: A Journey Out of Madness\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“This is the most alarming book I’ve read in years. The approach is neither polemical nor ideologically slanted. Relying on medical evidence and historical documentation, Whitaker builds his case like a prosecuting attorney.” \u003cb\u003e—Carl Elliott, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota and author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eBetter than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eAnatomy of an Epidemic\u003c\/i\u003e investigates a profoundly troubling question: do psychiatric medications increase the likelihood that people taking them, far from being helped, are more likely to become chronically ill? In making a compelling case that our current psychotropic drugs are causing as much—if not more—harm than good, Robert Whitaker reviews the scientific literature thoroughly, demonstrating how much of the evidence is on his side. There is nothing unorthodox here—this case is solid and evidence-backed. If psychiatry wants to retain its credibility with the public, it will now have to engage with the scientific argument at the core of this cogently and elegantly written book.” \u003cb\u003e—David Healy, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Cardiff University and author of \u003ci\u003eThe Antidepressant Era\u003c\/i\u003e and\u003ci\u003e Let Them Eat Prozac\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e“Anatomy of an Epidemic\u003c\/i\u003e is a splendidly informed, wonderfully readable corrective to the conventional wisdom about the biological bases—and biological cures—for mental illness. This is itself a wise and necessary book—essential reading for all those who have experienced, or care for those who have experienced, mental illness—which means all of us! Robert Whitaker is a reliable, sensible, and persuasive, guide to the paradoxes and complexities of what we know about mental illness, and what we might be able to do to lessen the suffering it brings.” \u003cb\u003e—Jay Neugeboren, author of \u003ci\u003eImagining Robert\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTransforming Madness\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Every so often a book comes along that exposes a vast deceit. Robert Whitaker has written that sort of book. Drawing on a prodigious quantity of psychiatric literature as well as heart-rending stories of individual patients, he exposes a deeply disturbing fraud perpetrated by the drug industry and much of modern psychiatry—at horrendous human and financial cost to patients, their families, and society as a whole. Scrupulously reported and written in compelling but unemotional style, this book shreds the myth woven around today’s psychiatric drugs.” \u003cb\u003e—Nils Bruzelius, former science editor for the \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A devastating critique. . . . One day, we will look back at the way we think about and treat mental illness and wonder if we were all mad. \u003ci\u003eAnatomy of an Epidemic\u003c\/i\u003e should be required reading for both patients and physicians.” \u003cb\u003e—Shannon Brownlee, senior research fellow, New America Foundation and author of \u003ci\u003eOvertreated\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Whitaker \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of \u003ci\u003eMad in America, The Mapmaker’s Wife, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eOn the Laps of Gods, \u003c\/i\u003eall of which won recognition as “notable books” of the year. His newspaper and magazine articles on the mentally ill and the pharmaceutical industry have garnered several national awards, including a George Polk Award for medical writing and a National Association of Science Writers Award for best magazine article. A series he cowrote for the \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe \u003c\/i\u003eon the abuse of mental patients in research settings was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.1\u003cbr\u003eA Modern Plague\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.” \u003c\/i\u003e—Jacob Bronowski (1973)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the story of a medical puzzle. The puzzle is of a most curious sort, and yet one that we as a society desperately need to solve, for it tells of a hidden epidemic that is diminishing the lives of millions of Americans, including a rapidly increasing number of children. The epidemic has grown in size and scope over the past five decades, and now disables 850 adults and 250 children \u003ci\u003eevery day\u003c\/i\u003e. And those startling numbers only hint at the true scope of this modern plague, for they are only a count of those who have become so ill that their families or caregivers are newly eligible to receive a disability check from the federal government.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, here is the puzzle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a society, we have come to understand that psychiatry has made great progress in treating mental illness over the past fifty years. Scientists are uncovering the biological causes of mental disorders, and pharmaceutical companies have developed a number of effective medications for these conditions. This story has been told in newspapers, magazines, and books, and evidence of our societal belief in it can be found in our spending habits. In 2007, we spent $25 billion on anti-depressants and antipsychotics, and to put that figure in perspective, that was more than the gross domestic product of Cameroon, a nation of 18 million people.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1999, U.S. surgeon general David Satcher neatly summed up this story of scientific progress in a 458- page report titled \u003ci\u003eMental Health\u003c\/i\u003e. The modern era of psychiatry, he explained, could be said to have begun in 1954. Prior to that time, psychiatry lacked treatments that could “prevent patients from becoming chronically ill.” But then Thorazine was introduced. This was the first drug that was a specific antidote to a mental disorder—it was an \u003ci\u003eantipsychotic \u003c\/i\u003emedication—and it kicked off a psychopharmacological revolution. Soon \u003ci\u003eantidepressants \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eantianxiety \u003c\/i\u003eagents were discovered, and as a result, today we enjoy “a variety of treatments of well documented efficacy for the array of clearly defined mental and behavioral disorders that occur across the life span,” Satcher wrote. The introduction of Prozac and other “ second- generation” psychiatric drugs, the surgeon general added, was “stoked by advances in both neurosciences and molecular biology” and represented yet another leap forward in the treatment of mental disorders.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMedical students training to be psychiatrists read about this history in their textbooks, and the public reads about it in popular accounts of the field. Thorazine, wrote University of Toronto professor Edward Shorter, in his 1997 book, \u003ci\u003eA History of Psychiatry, \u003c\/i\u003e“initiated a revolution in psychiatry, comparable to the introduction of penicillin in general medicine.” That was the start of the “psychopharmacology era,” and today we can rest assured that science has proved that the drugs in psychiatry’s medicine cabinet are beneficial. “We have very effective and safe treatments for a broad array of psychiatric disorders,” Richard Friedman, director of the psychopharmacology clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College, informed readers of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eon June 19, 2007. Three days later, the \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe, \u003c\/i\u003ein an editorial titled “When Kids Need Meds,” echoed this sentiment: “The development of powerful drugs has revolutionized the treatment of mental illness.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePsychiatrists working in countries around the world also understand this to be true. At the 161st annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, which was held in May 2008 in Washington, D.C., nearly half of the twenty thousand psychiatrists who attended were foreigners. The hallways were filled with chatter about schizophrenia, bipolar illness, depression, panic disorder, attention deficit\/hyperactivity disorder, and a host of other conditions described in the APA’s \u003ci\u003eDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,\u003c\/i\u003eand over the course of five days, most of the lectures, workshops, and symposiums told of advances in the field. “We have come a long way in understanding psychiatric disorders, and our knowledge continues to expand,” APA president Carolyn Robinowitz told the audience in her opening- day address. “Our work saves and improves so many lives.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut here is the conundrum. Given this great advance in care, we should expect that the number of disabled mentally ill in the United States, on a per-capita basis, would have declined over the past fifty years. We should also expect that the number of disabled mentally ill, on a per-capita basis, would have declined since the arrival in 1988 of Prozac and the other second-generation psychiatric drugs. We should see a two- step drop in disability rates. Instead, as the psychopharmacology revolution has unfolded, the number of disabled mentally ill in the United States has \u003ci\u003eskyrocketed\u003c\/i\u003e. Moreover, this increase in the number of disabled mentally ill has accelerated further since the introduction of Prozac and the other secondgeneration psychiatric drugs. Most disturbing of all, this modernday plague has now spread to the nation’s children.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe disability numbers, in turn, lead to a much larger question. Why are so many Americans today, while they may not be disabled by mental illness, nevertheless plagued by chronic mental problems—by recurrent depression, by bipolar symptoms, and by crippling anxiety? If we have treatments that effectively address these disorders, why has mental illness become an ever- greater health problem in the United States?Author of Mad in America","brand":"Crown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300353003749,"sku":"NP9780307452429","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780307452429.jpg?v=1767721537","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/anatomy-of-an-epidemic-isbn-9780307452429","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}