Post by Admin on Jun 28, 2012 10:39:17 GMT
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Breggin
www.breggin.com/
Peter Roger Breggin (born May 11, 1936) is an American psychiatrist and critic of biological psychiatry and psychiatric medication. In his books, he advocates replacing psychiatry's use of drugs and electroconvulsive therapy with humanistic approaches, such as psychotherapy, education, and broader human services.
Breggin is the author of several books which are critical of modern psychiatry, including Toxic Psychiatry, Talking Back to Prozac and Talking Back to Ritalin. His most recent book, Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, discusses medication spellbinding (in which patients who are doing worse after treatment fail to see that they are doing worse or recognize why),[3] the adverse effects of drugs and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the hazards of diagnosing and medicating children, the psychopharmaceutical complex, and guidelines for psychotherapy and counseling.
A selection of some of his BOOKS -
Medication Madness: A Psychiatrist Exposes the Dangers of Mood-Altering Medications.
Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry: Drugs, Electroshock and the Psychopharmaceutical Complex
Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications
Reclaiming Our Children: A Healing Solution for a Nation in Crisis.
The Heart of Being Helpful: Empathy and the Creation of a Healing Presence.
Beyond Conflict: From Self-Help and Psychotherapy to Peacemaking.
Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock, and Biochemical Theories of the "New Psychiatry"
[Rest Here - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Breggin#Books ]
Criticism
Due to his outspoken criticisms of many aspects of psychiatry, Breggin has become a controversial figure who is regularly at odds with the mental health establishment. He uses terms like "fraud" to describe the biological and genetic theories of mental disorders. He is critical of the medications used to treat these disorders, and the political process that determines the labels used for diagnosing mental disorders. He has also consistently warned about conflict of interest problems. These claims often challenge accepted standards of care within the mental health field and have led to highly critical rebuttals.
In 1987, NAMI brought a complaint against Breggin with licensure board of the State of Maryland. NAMI was upset about remarks he made on the Oprah Winfrey Show on April 2, 1987. On the TV show, Breggin stated that mental health clients should judge their clinicians in terms of their empathy and support; if they failed to show interest in them and tried to prescribe drugs during the first session, he advised such clients to seek assistance elsewhere. He also pointed out the iatrogenic effects of neuroleptic drugs. He was defended by a diverse group of psychiatrists and others who defended his right to publicly state his critical opinion. Breggin was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Maryland medical board, which thanked him for his contribution to mental health in Maryland.
Time magazine has noted that other mental health professionals worry that "Breggin reinforces the myth that mental illness is not real, that you wouldn't be ill if you'd pull yourself up by the bootstraps...his views stop people from getting treatment. They could cost a life."However, despite this concern, an emphasis on a purely biological explanation of mental illness has actually been associated with an increase in stigma instead of a decrease by one study.