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Comfortably Numb
http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Comfortably-Numb-Charles-Barber/9780307274953
How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation
By
Charles Barber
$19.56
Price includes NZ wide delivery! Ships from USA supplier | Rating: | | | Format: | Paperback, 280 pages | | Published In: | United States, 01 February 2009 |
Public perceptions of mental health issues have changed dramatically over the last fifteen years, and nowhere more than in the rampant overmedication of ordinary Americans. In 2006, 227 million antidepressant prescriptions were dispensed in the United States, more than any other class of medication; that year, the United States accounted for 66% of the global market. Here, psychiatrist Barber provides a context for this disturbing phenomenon. He explores the ways in which pharmaceutical companies first create the need for a drug and then rush to fill it, and he reveals the increasing pressure Americans are under to medicate themselves. Most importantly, he argues that without an industry to promote them, non-pharmaceutical approaches that could have the potential to help millions are tragically overlooked by a nation that sees drugs as an instant cure for all emotional difficulties.--From publisher description. |
ReviewsWith all that drug advertising, no wonder we're profoundly overmedicated; standard psychotherapy doesn't stand a chance. From a Yale med school lecturer in psychiatry and a Pushcart winner to boot. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information. "Compelling. . . . Offers something several of the other books don't: practical, therapeutic alternatives to antidepressants." --Jerome Weeks, "Salon""By any measure, this is an Important Book. . . . Perhaps it will play a role, however small, in convincing both medicators and the medicated to rely less on pharmaceuticals and more on the long-term therapy of human compassion." --"The Harford Courant""Arrives in our pill-happy midst not a moment too soon." --"The New York Observer " "Passionate yet fair-minded. . . . Barber asks the critical question of whether Americans are crazier that the rest of the world or whether we have simply developed a crazy dependency on legal drugs." --Susan Jacoby, author of "The Age of American Unreason""A fine, informed writer on cultural history as well as neuroscience, psychotherapy, and economics, Barber convincingly argues against the overprescription of psychiatric drugs in the United States and sums up the history of U.S. psychiatry from the asylum to the community to glitzy but still elementary neuroscience. A blockbuster essential for all libraries."--"Library Journal" (starred review)"A sharply critical look at the way antidepressants are marketed and prescribed in the United States . . . Barber articulately and persuasively counsels that it's time to abandon the quick-fix, pop-a-pill approach."--"Kirkus ""Comfortably Numb chronicles the extraordinary psychopharmaceuticalization of everyday life that has arisen in recent years and appears to be growing apace. Barber marks out the inconvenient truths on our path to emotional climate change but also offers alternatives to readers who wish to avoid pharmageddon."--David Healy, author of "Let Them Eat Prozac"
| Publisher: | Vintage Books USA | | ISBN: | 0307274950 |
| EAN: | 9780307274953 | | Dimensions: | 20.27 x 13.31 x 1.75 centimeters (0.22 kg) |
| Age Range: |
15+ years |
|
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