The Bitterest Pills
The Troubling Story of Antipsychotic Drugs
Authors: Moncrieff, J.
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- About this book
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A challenging reappraisal of the history of antipsychotics, revealing how they were transformed from neurological poisons into magical cures, their benefits exaggerated and their toxic effects minimized or ignored.
- About the authors
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Joanna Moncrieff is a Senior Lecturer at University College London, UK and a practising consultant psychiatrist. She is co-chair person of the Critical Psychiatry Network and author of The Myth of the Chemical Cure.
- Reviews
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"This book will make an enormous contribution towards a more rational, transparent and ethical approach to the use of neuroleptic drugs. By implication it also offers up a strong argument for much wider choice for people in crisis, particularly the provision of minimal drug/drug-free systems of help and support, such as Soteria-type facilities and Open Dialogue. It is a must-read for all psychiatrists and mental health professionals, and its accessibility means that many survivors/service users and carers will find it a valuable ally in their fight for more humane and less harmful alternatives to psychiatric drug treatment." - Philip Thomas, University of Bradford, UK
'a meticulous, balanced history of antipsychotic drugs' - Nature
'All in all, this is a brilliantly clear-eyed, informative, well-referenced and at times disturbing book which should be essential reading for clinicians, policy-makers and patients alike.' - Psychosis: Psychological, Social and Integrative Approaches
'Joanna Moncrieff's courageous research continues to point out that the emperor, while dressed, is wearing the wrong clothes for the job.' - Therapy Today
'Psychiatrist Moncrieff [...] offers a refreshingly critical look at the motivation behind atypical antipsychotic drug use from the pharmaceutical standpoint as well as the pharmacological basis, or lack thereof, in some cases.' - Choice
'This schematic account cannot do justice to the tightness of the arguments and numerous illustrative examples with which Dr Moncrieff charts the all-important transition from the drug-centred to the disease-centred model and its adverse consequences.' - Brain
- Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Cure or Curse: What Are Antipsychotics?
Pages 1-19
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Chlorpromazine: The First Wonder Drug
Pages 20-38
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Magic Bullets: The Development of Ideas on Drug Action
Pages 39-59
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Building a House of Cards: The Dopamine Theory of Schizophrenia and Drug Action
Pages 60-75
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The Phoenix Rises: From Tardive Dyskinesia to the Introduction of the ‘Atypicals’
Pages 76-90
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- The Bitterest Pills
- Book Subtitle
- The Troubling Story of Antipsychotic Drugs
- Authors
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- J. Moncrieff
- Copyright
- 2013
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Copyright Holder
- Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
- eBook ISBN
- 978-1-137-27744-2
- DOI
- 10.1057/9781137277442
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-1-137-27742-8
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-1-137-27743-5
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XIV, 278
- Topics
