Overview
- Sheds new light on the debate on the prescribing epidemic
- Brings together an interdisciplinary team of global experts in critical psychopharmacology to trace the spread of the prescribing epidemic into non-Western markets
- Systematically explores the causes and consequences of current prescribing practices in an accessible, direct and interdisciplinary way
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About this book
This edited volume provides an answer to a rising public health concern: what drives the over prescription of psychiatric medication epidemic? Over 15% of the UK public takes a psychiatric medication on any given day, and the numbers are only set to increase. Placing this figure alongside the emerging clinical and scientific data revealing their poor outcomes and the harms these medications often cause, their commercial success cannot be explained by their therapeutic efficacy.
Chapters from an interdisciplinary team of global experts in critical psychopharmacology rigorously examine how pharmaceutical sponsorship and marketing, diagnostic inflation, the manipulation and burying of negative clinical trials, lax medication regulation, and neoliberal public health policies have all been implicated in ever-rising psycho-pharmaceutical consumption. This volume will ignite a long-overdue public debate. It will be of interest to professionals in the field of mental health and researchers ranging from sociology of health, to medical anthropology and the political economy of health.
Chapters from an interdisciplinary team of global experts in critical psychopharmacology rigorously examine how pharmaceutical sponsorship and marketing, diagnostic inflation, the manipulation and burying of negative clinical trials, lax medication regulation, and neoliberal public health policies have all been implicated in ever-rising psycho-pharmaceutical consumption. This volume will ignite a long-overdue public debate. It will be of interest to professionals in the field of mental health and researchers ranging from sociology of health, to medical anthropology and the political economy of health.
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Keywords
Table of contents (11 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“I can recommend The Sedated Society as a stimulating case for the existence of overprescription and for the acknowledgment of the various harms associated with psychiatric medications. … Mental health clinicians, service-users, and researchers of all stripes will find the volume of interest.” (Daniel J. Dunleavy, metapsychology online reviews, metapsychology.mentalhelp.net, Vol. 22 (4), January, 2018)
“The most authoritative and wide-ranging critique yet published of the global trend towards chemical management of psychological and social problems ... . Hard-hitting, scholarly and highly readable.” (Professor David Ingleby, Centre for Social Science and Global Health, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
“The Sedated Society is a provocative critique of the over-prescription psychiatric drugs, their minimal effectiveness, and the dangers they pose. The authors are eminent experts and their conclusions are important and troubling. It should be required reading for all medical students.” (Prof Irving Kirsch, Associate Director at the Harvard Medical School, USA)
“A brilliant revelation of our drug-hooked world … .With admirable clarity and panache the contributors chart the incredible story of bad science, naivety and greed that has enslaved the lives of millions.” (Paul Flynn MP, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
James Davies holds a PhD in social and medical anthropology from the University of Oxford, UK. He is a Reader in social anthropology and mental health at the University of Roehampton, UK, practicing psychotherapist, and author of three books.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Sedated Society
Book Subtitle: The Causes and Harms of our Psychiatric Drug Epidemic
Editors: James Davies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44911-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and Psychology, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-44910-4Published: 09 February 2017
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-44911-1Published: 23 January 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 318
Number of Illustrations: 1 illustrations in colour
Topics: Critical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Counseling, Personality and Social Psychology, Bioethics