Fwd: Are Psychiatric Medications Causing More Mental Illness? - Radio show

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http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/01/19/mental-diagnoses

Are Psychiatric Medications Causing More Mental Illness?

By Gotbaum

Jan 19, 2011, 3:50 PM UPDATED 2:50 PM

According to some sources, the use of psychiatric drugs like

ritalin, prozac and xanax, has doubled in the last decade.

A local science journalist and author, Whitaker,

says in his recent book, “Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets,

Psychiatric Durgs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in

America,” that the long-term use of these popular psychiatric

medications is actually causing more mental illness — not less.

Whitaker says his research which examines for the first time

the long-term effects of psychiatric drugs, shows that these

medications are often making diseases such as depression and

schizophrenia worse, not better. He points to a major increase

in the number of people getting federal disability benefits for

mental illness who are taking these medications as a sign that

the drugs are, in fact, contributing to chronic mental illness

in America. For example, Whitaker points out that between 1987

and 2007, “the number of disabled mentally ill children rose

thirty-five fold.”

Whitaker’s claims are refuted by reputable members of the

psychiatric community here in Boston.