Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent

ISBN-13: 9781420867428 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 420 str.

Grace E. Jackson

Opis

Are patients aware of the fact that pharmacological therapies stress the brain in ways which may prevent or postpone symptomatic and functional recovery? Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent is a critical appraisal of the medications which an estimated 20 per cent of Americans consume on a regular (and sometimes involuntary) basis. It is the philosophically, epidemiologically, and scientifically supported revelation of how and why psychiatry's drug therapies have contributed to a standard of care which frequently does more to harm than to cure. Extensively researched and documented, the book addresses: the process by which psychiatric drugs reach the market; the history and philosophy of Evidence Based Medicine; the common flaws in research methodologies which negate the validity of the psychiatric RCT (Randomized Controlled Trial); the problem of allostatic load (how drugs stress the body); the history, long term effects, and utility of the drugs used to suppress symptoms of depression, psychosis, inattention and hyperactivity; and the effectiveness of alternatives to medication. current crisis in medical ethics and epistemology, and attempts to restore to psychiatry an authentically informed consent to care.