Review: Anatomy of an Epidemic - on modern psychiatry

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I recently finished reading Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, by Robert Whitaker, on my Kindle, and I figured I might as well review it for the SFN audience.

 

The premise of the book is simple. The number of Americans disabled by mental illness has skyrocketed in the past half-century, yet the general public believes that psychiatry and its medications have successfully conquered many mental illnesses. What's going on? Whitaker tries to find out.

 

The book is well-written and well-researched. It seems like each page cites a new scientific paper, and you only rarely catch yourself wondering "how'd he arrive at that conclusion?" The explanation is careful, the examples convincing, and the case studies compelling. Although Whitaker uses examples from real psychiatric patients, you don't get the feeling that he's using the anecdotes to emotionally manipulate you, as you often do in other books. Instead, Whitaker uses the examples to illustrate his points, rather than backing up points solely with anecdotes.

 

On the other hand, Anatomy of an Epidemic takes a very unpopular position. Not only does Whitaker believe that mental illness is on the rise, he believes the rise is due to the very same drugs thought to treat it. Patients treated with medication for one disorder end up with a multitude of other disorders, according to Whitaker, and often end up mentally disabled for life.

 

It's a position that requires a lot of evidence, and Whitaker delivers. With the magnitude of his claims, there's no doubt you'll leave the book with doubts about some of the points -- "did the studies account for this factor? What about this other medication?" But when you're done, you'll also leave with some major doubts about psychiatry.