Doctoring the Mind: Is Our Current Treatment of Mental Illness Really Any Good?

Clinical and research psychologist Bentall (Madness Explained: Psychosis and Human Nature) studies the effectiveness of different treatments for schizophrenic and bipolar disorders. In this thorough research overview, Bentall concludes that the ""medical approach"" is ""fatally flawed,"" and ""the way that psychiatric drugs are used needs to change radically."" In his view, most psychiatric diagnoses fail at predicting the outcome of treatment, particularly drug treatment, because they are based upon faulty assumptions about the genetic basis of psychiatric disorders and a false distinction between schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. Bentall looks at treatment practices and their study over the past century, particularly in the U.K., including a critical examination of twin studies that improperly claim a correlation between the mental health of parents and their adopted children, and in-depth analysis of recent studies that falsely attribute positive effects to anti-psychotic drug treatment while misrepresenting harmful side-effects. This controversial book makes an important contribution to the broader health-care debate regarding mental health and the role of the pharmaceutical industry.