Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How & Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications

Revised Edition
Psychiatric drugs are prescribed to more than 20 million Americans. This book aims to convince us to stop taking these drugs, and to show us how to do it safely. The authors contend that after 15 minutes with a physician or psychiatrist, Americans are prescribed medications that we may take for years or a lifetime, which can do more harm than good. We’re irritable, anxious, emotionally numbed, physically fatigued, and mentally dulled. Yet when we stop taking the drugs, we encounter a whole new set of problems and setbacks. The book lists the adverse medical reactions you may encounter, plus additional personal, psychological, and philosophical reasons for limiting or rejecting psychiatric drugs. About half the book covers withdrawing from your drug–how to do it carefully and slowly, what to expect, and how to get help–with specifics for certain drugs and a chapter on easing your child off them as well. If you suffer from depression or another condition that warrants taking prescription drugs, you might refute the authors’ contention that “the degree to which we suffer indicates the degree to which we are alive. When we take drugs to ease our suffering, we stifle our psychological and spiritual life.” Certainly it would be lovely if we could “find a way to untangle that twisted energy and to redirect it more creatively,” but is this really possible in all cases? The authors blame our dependence on drugs and psychiatry on big pharmaceutical-company bucks, psychiatric organizations, and even government agencies. Certainly we are an overmedicated society–but is the answer to take everyone off drugs? This provocative book says yes, and it’s bound to be controversial. Of course, do not go off any prescribed medication without working closely with the medical professional who prescribed it, and do not use this book as a substitute for professional help. –Joan Price