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The Trouble with Psychiatry - A Doctor's Revelations about a Profession in Crisis
Free Press
May 2010
On Sale: May 18, 2010
256 pages
ISBN: 141659079X
EAN: 9781416590798
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
IN THIS STIRRING AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN WAKE-UP CALL,
psychiatrist Daniel Carlat exposes deeply disturbing
problems plaguing his profession, revealing the ways it has
abandoned its essential purpose: to understand the mind, so
that psychiatrists can heal mental illness and not just
treat symptoms. As he did in his hard-hitting and widely
read New York Times Magazine article "Dr. Drug Rep," and as
he continues to do in his popular watchdog newsletter, The
Carlat Psychiatry Report, he writes with bracing honesty
about how psychiatry has so largely forsaken the practice of
talk therapy for the seductive—and more lucrative—practice
of simply prescribing drugs, with a host of deeply troubling
consequences. Psychiatrists have settled for treating symptoms rather than
causes, embracing the apparent medical rigor of DSM
diagnoses and prescription in place of learning the more
challenging craft of therapeutic counseling, gaining only
limited understanding of their patients’ lives. Talk therapy
takes time, whereas the fifteen-minute "med check" allows
for more patients and more insurance company reimbursement.
Yet DSM diagnoses, he shows, are premised on a good deal
less science than we would think. Writing from an insider’s perspective, with refreshing
forthrightness about his own daily struggles as a
practitioner, Dr. Carlat shares a wealth of stories from his
own practice and those of others that demonstrate the
glaring shortcomings of the standard fifteen-minute patient
visit. He also reveals the dangers of rampant diagnoses of
bipolar disorder, ADHD, and other "popular" psychiatric
disorders, and exposes the risks of the cocktails of
medications so many patients are put on. Especially
disturbing are the terrible consequences of overprescription
of drugs to children of ever younger ages. Taking us on a
tour of the world of pharmaceutical marketing, he also
reveals the inner workings of collusion between
psychiatrists and drug companies. Concluding with a road map for exactly how the profession
should be reformed, Unhinged is vital reading for all those
in treatment or considering it, as well as a stirring call
to action for the large community of psychiatrists
themselves. As physicians and drug companies continue to
work together in disquieting and harmful ways, and as
diagnoses—and misdiagnoses—of mental disorders skyrocket,
it’s essential that Dr. Carlat’s bold call for reform is
heeded.
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