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Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill  
by Peter R. Breggin, M.D.
From Book News, Inc.
Breggin, a psychiatrist for 30 years and director of the Center for Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, discusses the meaning of depression and the many and various impacts on the brain of SSRI antidepressants, including, of course their dangers and the bad effects they have on some people, and the difficulties of withdrawal. He also talks about erroneous public perceptions of the drug approval process, and the deceptions of the drug industry; and he gives suggestions for patients and therapists regarding overcoming depression without reliance on drugs.Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR
Book Description
By the author of Talking Back to Prozac and Your Drug May Be Your Problem, the answers to over 100 questions about antidepressants.
Known as "the Ralph Nader of psychiatry," Dr. Peter Breggin has been the medical expert in countless court cases involving the use or misuse of psychoactive medications. This unusual position has given him unprecedented access to private pharmaceutical research and correspondence files, information from which informs this straight-talking guide to the most prescribed and controversial category of American drugs: antidepressants. From how these drugs work in the brain to how they treat (or don't treat) depression and obsessive-compulsive, panic, and other disorders; from the documented side and withdrawal effects to what every parent needs to know about antidepressants and teenagers, The Anti-Depressant Fact Book is up-to-the minute and easy-to-access. Hard-hitting and enlightening, every current, former, and prospective antidepressant-user will want to read this book.
Biopsychiatry's bane, the public's boon..., July 26, 2001
Reviewer: Dathan A. Paterno from Chicago, IL
Peter Breggin has done it again. He has managed to overwhelm the fair-minded reader with so much knowledge, good sense and wisdom that it is impossible for him/her to reject his air-tight, wholly sensible arguments. The fact that he has been privy to the most sensitive data--internal documents from pharmaceuticals, hundreds of published and unpublished research articles, etc.--makes him the most qualified individual in the world to look critically at both the modern "antidepressants" and the empires that create and market them. If only every consumer could witness a debate between Dr. Breggin and the "champions" of the pharmaceuticals...what a glorious drubbing these champions would suffer! If you are considering buying this book, do yourself a grand favor: do it. Read it once. Don't attempt to highlight the good parts, because the whole book would be covered in marker. Then read it again. You will become determined to look critically at the propoganda that is foisted on you every day in the media regarding "antidepressants" and biopsychiatry. Every page is illuminating, shocking, sensible, sound, and ultimately, encouraging. I could not recommend this book any more highly.
A Must Read For Patients and Professionals, July 25, 2001
Reviewer: Lloyd Ross, PHD from Ridgewood, New Jersey
This comprehensive book about anti-depressant medications picks up where Talking Back To Prozac left off. Dr. Breggin, through his vast personal experience and research as a medical expert in legal cases against the drug manufacturers, as well as his carefully documented research into the psychopharmacology of anti-depressants provides us with a great deal of information that is available no where else.
Although quite disturbing to read, The Anti-depressant Fact Book is so well written and so clear that it is appropriate reading for the mental health professional as well as for the general public. Dr. Breggin discusses the meaning and purpose of depression as an emotional response to things, people, and situations in our lives, rather than as a biochemical disease in our brains. He points out that depression also reflects the contrasting desire in us that we have to live a more creative, meaningful life. This is in sharp contrast to the majority of the psychiatric community who sees depression as an imbalance of brain chemicals that must be corrected by drugs.
Dr. Breggin explains in detail how the anti-depressant medications work, with special emphasis upon the selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors, (SSRIs') like Zoloft, Paxil, and Prozac. He carefully explains how the SSRI's block the reabsorbing of the brain chemical seratonin, causing an excess amount of it to accumulate in the spaces between neurons both in the brain and elsewhere. He goes on to explain how the brain then tries to fight back from this chemical assault by permanently eliminating receptors. This process is called "die-back" and results in sub-sensitivity of the receptors, better known as down regulation, leading to permanent dysfunction.
Dr. Breggin goes on to explain through current research findings, how the SSRI anti-depressants act in the brain like stimulants and he shows their striking similarities to the illegal drugs Ecstasy and cocaine in terms of dangerousness and the creation of Mania and akathesia. He goes on to describe a multitude of other problems that are directly attributable to these anti-depressants such as cardiovascular problems, parkinsonian symptoms, tardive dyskinesea, loss of sex drive, emotional blunting, suicide, and violent behavior. Of particular interest, Dr. Breggin highlights how these anti-depressant drugs often cause depression themselves, and particularly a very dangerous kind of depression; an agitated depression.
This book clearly spells out the great difficulties that people encounter when trying to stop taking these drugs and it suggests ways to soften the rebound and withdrawal effects of the drugs. Breggin also devotes a chapter to the special problems encountered when children are given anti-depressants along with the exceptional; brain damage that occurs. He goes on in yet another chapter to discuss the resurgence of electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT) and to psychosurgery as treatments for depression. He likens ECT to a "closed-head electrical trauma to the brain." He also devotes a section to how some of the recent school violence and school shootings are linked to the anti-depressants.
Finally, Dr. Breggin devotes the last part of this book to how one can go about seeking real help for depression without the use of these dangerous and brain damaging medications. He describes how to find a therapist and what to look for in a therapist. I have found this book, written by one of the most well known and well respected psychiatrists in the world, a voluminous source of necessary and previously unobtainable information about anti-depressant medications. It is meticulously documented and highlights Dr. Breggin's lifelong work as the "conscience of psychiatry." I could not recommend it more highly to both the professional mental health community and to the public.
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