Anatomy of an epidemic : magic bullets, psychiatric drugs, and the astonishing rise of mental illness in America / Robert Whitaker.

Author: Whitaker, Robert.

Edition: 1st ed.

Publisher: New York : Crown Publishers, c2010.

ISBN: 9780307452412
0307452417
9780307452429 (pbk.)
0307452425 (pbk.)

Description: xi, 404 p. ; 25 cm.

Subject: Mental illness United States.
Psychotropic drugs Prescribing United States.
Psychiatry United States.
Psychiatry ethics United States.
Psychiatry history United States.
Mental Disorders drug therapy United States.
Mental Disorders epidemiology United States.

Contents: A modern plague -- Anecdotal thoughts -- The roots of an epidemic -- Psychiatry's magic bullets -- The hunt for chemical imbalances -- A paradox revealed -- The benzo trap -- An episodic illness turns chronic -- The bipolar boom -- An epidemic explained -- The epidemic spreads to children -- Suffer the children -- The rise of an ideology -- The story that was . . . and wasn't told -- Tallying up the profits -- Blueprints for reform.

Summary: Presents a controversial assessment of the rise in mental illness-related disabilities and considers if drug-based care may be fueling illness rates throughout the past half century.