Medication Madness

More than fifty true stories of violence suicide and psychosis from America''s leading critic of the psychopharmaceutical industry.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 dozens of cases of suicide murder and other violent criminal and bizarre behaviors including:A mild-mannered man who becomes violent and suicidalAn innocent teenage girl who nearly stabs her mother to deathA ten-year-old child who hangs himselfA physician who commits bizarre career-ending robberiesDr. Breggin personally evaluated every case in his role as a treating psychiatrist consultant or medical expert. The great majority lived exemplary lives and committed no criminal or bizarre actions prior to taking psychiatric medication and not one ever repeated these behaviors when drug free.This book documents how the FDA the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical industry have oversold 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.Breggin''s assertion that psychotropic drugs induce rather than treat brain imbalances is controversial but this book is a reasoned look at these drugs which have come under increasing scrutiny in the media as well as medical world. —Publishers Weekly