Robert Whitaker has a good piece on his blog today. Below are a few of the opening paragraphs.
A very important debate is emerging and Whitaker has perhaps been the first to really scratch the surface of psychiatry as an institution. While I know a great many wonderful critics who have written important contributions to critical psychiatry, I can’t think of anyone else who has been taken quite this seriously by the mainstream. Even if he’s often maligned he’s not being dismissed! It’s clear people feel they NEED to say something. What Whitaker has presented simply cannot be ignored.
As many readers of Anatomy of an Epidemic know, I spoke at a psychiatric Grand Rounds at Massachusetts General Hospital on January 13, 2011. In response, Dr. Andrew Nierenberg then gave what he described as a presentation “refuting” the book. Given that Dr. Nierenberg’s presentation occurred within this Grand Rounds environment, it can be seen as an opportunity for academic psychiatry to have presented an “evidence-based” reply to Anatomy of an Epidemic.
As such, it provides a good test for Anatomy of an Epidemic. Did Dr. Nierenberg present data that showed that psychiatric medications improve the long-term course of major mental disorders? Was his presentation well-reasoned? Honest? Did he cite studies in an accurate way? And–since he billed his talk as a refutation of the book–did he present evidence of instances where the book is wrong, as opposed to simply claiming that it is wrong?
I do believe this is an important “debate, for it is ultimately about a question that our society desperately needs to address. Is our drug-based paradigm of care really working? Does it help people struggling with psychiatric distress to get well and stay well? Is there reason to believe that the medicating of children is going to help them grow up into healthy adults?
Grand Rounds is a public forum, and so I am presenting Dr. Nierenberg’s“refutation” of Anatomy of an Epidemic here, along with my replies to his critique. Readers can then assess for themselves the merits of Dr. Nierenberg’s response to Anatomy of an Epidemic. read the article and see the slideshow here