I found this explanation helpful as I’ve process through the idea that the that chemical imbalance theory has yet to be proved. (“After nearly 50 years of investigation into the chemical imbalance theory, there is not one piece of convincing evidence that the theory is actually correct” (129).) If this theory were true, then chemical imbalances could be cured by intaking the right amount of chemicals (via medication). Davies’ view instead is that pills “don’t cure us - they simply change us” (99). He offers, they are “just providing a temporary and superficial distraction” (100).

Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good

The development of the DSM-III and its subsequent versions has been a major accomplishment in the history of psychiatric nomenclature. Clinicians use the DSM criteria in clinical practice as an effective way to communicate the clinical picture, the course of illness, and efficacy of treatment.” Chemical imbalance is sort of last-century thinking. It’s much more complicated than that.’ (Dr Joseph Coyle, Professor of Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School)The first thing you’ll notice is that all the groups actually get better on the scale of improvement, even those who had received no treatment at all. This is because many incidences of depression spontaneously reduce by themselves after time without being actively treated. You’ll also see that both psychotherapy and drug groups get significantly better. But, oddly, so does the placebo group. More bizarre still, the difference in improvement between placebo and antidepressant groups is only about 0.4 points, which was a strikingly small amount. ‘This result genuinely surprised us’, said Kirsch leaning forward intently, ‘because the difference between placebos and antidepressants was far smaller than anything we had read about or anticipated..." We provide health and wellbeing services, financial guidance and support to develop your study skills. You will also have access to careers advice, work placements, paid and voluntary work opportunities and career mentoring. Patients have been diagnosed with chemical imbalances, despite the fact that no test exists to support such a claim, and that there is no real conception of what a correct chemical balance would look like ". Dr David Kaiser, Psychiatric Times). So, according to Davies, after nearly 50 years of investigation into the chemical imbalance theory, there is not one piece of convincing evidence that the theory is correct.

2013) Cracked: why psychiatry is doing more harm than good (2013) Cracked: why psychiatry is doing more harm than good

In other words, trainings are places where persons are socialised to uphold the values and beliefs of the particular tradition into which they are being initiated. What is good for the ‘patient’ is often less important than what will ensure the longevity of the therapeutic tribe upon which one’s status and livelihood will come to depend. So I tried to expose anthropologically the tacit institutional devices used in training to transform persons into celebrants and defenders of the tradition (often in ways, and unbeknown to practitioners themselves, that are at the expense of the ‘patient’)". A well-written book...a positive contribution to the debate about whether psychiatry can become a more open practice." In Britain, approaching a quarter of the adult population take a psychiatric drug in a year, an increase of over 500% since 1980. Despite this rise in prescriptions, the prevalence of mental health problems and disability have also increased.

Book Reviews

Polish rights in Hitler’s Last Plot : The 139 Men, Women, and Children Saved from Imminent Execution in the Final Days of the Third Reich by Jeremy Dronfield & Ian Sayer I also didn't really find any plausible evidence for the author's statement that drugs have horrible side effects - his examples were all symptoms of the diseases the drugs are meant to treat, so how does he know they're caused by the drugs, but not by the illness that is basically left untreated if, as he suggests, the drugs aren't actually effective in curing the person? In Chapter 9, he discusses the utterly immoral process whereby pharmaceutical companies pay psychiatrists and universities to sell their product, and how it is near impossible for any patient to find out if their psychiatrist is being paid to promote the drug they are being prescribed. He discusses what he terms as ‘psychiatric imperialism’ in Chapter 12. In this chapter, he discusses how the West has exported their pathologizing of distress to countries more likely to see it as a result of social or psychological problems. A way forward from this crisis in psychiatry I wonder how extensive Mr. Davies' literature search was; if he needs evidence of the biological root of schizophrenia look at the life work of Professor Eve Johnstone.