From The New York Times: In a new book, Blue Dreams, psychologist and patient Lauren Slater critiques the drug-based model of psychiatric care, debunking the chemical imbalance theory of mental illness and detailing the adverse effects of psychiatric drugs.
“None of this is news, or should be. ‘Blue Dreams’ arrives in the thick of a debate about the pharmaceutical approach to mental health, and synthesizes forceful critiques from Gary Greenberg, Irving Kirsch and Robert Whitaker, among others. Slater is pithy, readable and generally fair, although I wish she had engaged more thoroughly with the defense of antidepressants, mounted perhaps most persuasively by Peter D. Kramer in his recent book ‘Ordinary Well,’ which explored flaws in the studies that examined the efficacy of antidepressants.
The real strength of this book comes from Slater’s very particular position. She is patient and psychologist, part of the first wave of people who were prescribed Prozac in the 1980s. She describes how, in the years since, her mind has been saved and her body destroyed.”
Click here to listen to an NPR interview with Lauren Slater.
