The Sedated Society : The Causes and Harms of Our Psychiatric Drug Epidemic

This edited volume provides an answer to a rising public health concern: what drives the over prescription of psychiatric medication epidemic? Over 15% of the UK public takes a psychiatric medication on any given day, and the numbers are only set to increase. Placing this figure alongside the emerging clinical and scientific data revealing their poor outcomes and the harms these medications often cause, their commercial success cannot be explained by their therapeutic efficacy. Chapters from an interdisciplinary team of global experts in critical psychopharmacology rigorously examine how pharmaceutical sponsorship and marketing, diagnostic inflation, the manipulation and burying of negative clinical trials, lax medication regulation, and neoliberal public health policies have all been implicated in ever-rising psycho-pharmaceutical consumption. This volume will ignite a long-overdue public debate. It will be of interest to professionals in the field of mental health and researchers ranging from sociology of health, to medical anthropology and the political economy of health. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Introduction....Pages 1-22 Psychopharmacology Is Not Evidence-Based Medicine....Pages 23-49 Starting Young: Children Cultured into Becoming Psycho-Pharmaceutical Consumers—The Example of Childhood Depression....Pages 51-71 Opium and the People: The Prescription Psychopharmaceutical Epidemic in Historical Context....Pages 73-99 Desperate for a Fix: My Story of Pharmaceutical Misadventure....Pages 101-121 Neuroleptic (Antipsychotic) Drugs: An Epidemic of Tardive Dyskinesia and Related Brain Injuries Afflicting Tens of Millions....Pages 123-161 Psychiatry Under the Influence....Pages 163-188 Political Pills: Psychopharmaceuticals and Neoliberalism as Mutually Supporting....Pages 189-225 Psychopharmaceuticals as ‘Essential Medicines’: Local Negotiations of Global Access to Psychotherapeutic Medicines in India....Pages 227-248 The Public and Private Lives of Psychopharmaceuticals in the Global South....Pages 249-269 A Manifesto for Psychological Health and Wellbeing....Pages 271-301 Back Matter....Pages 303-318 This Edited Volume Assembles A Team Of Global Experts In Critical Psychopharmacology To Address The Causes And Consequences Of Our Current Psychiatric Prescribing Epidemic. Over 15% Of The Uk Public Takes A Psychiatric Medication On Any Given Day, And The Numbers Are Only Set To Increase. Placing This Figure Alongside Emerging Clinical And Scientific Data Exposing The Poor Outcomes And Harms These Medications Often Cause, This Book Reveals That Their Commercial Success Cannot Be Explained By Their Therapeutic Efficacy. The Chapters Reveal How Pharmaceutical Sponsorship And Marketing, Diagnostic Inflation, The Manipulation And Burying Of Negative Clinical Trials, Lax Medication Regulation, And Neoliberal Public Health Policies Have All Been Implicated In Ever-rising Psychopharmaceutical Consumption. This Volume Will Ignite A Long-overdue Public Debate - Informing Clinical, Academic, Public And Political Communities About The Harms Of Over-reliance On Psychiatry Drugs And The Necessity For Root And Branch Reform.