Excellent

really enjoyed this, I work in Psychiatry and have to agree, some people come looking for medication to give them the answeres. This usually makes their problems worse because of side effects, such as sedation and weight gain. "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society". Jiddu Krishnamurti

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First class, essential reading.

A fantastic book highlighting the extent of the profit seeking talons of the pharmaceutical industry. Well done, fantastic.

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Outstanding.

Highly recommend. Very well written and narrated. I have suffered through mental illness and this is a must read. Does delve into the topic quite deep and there was also a book recommended that I am keen to pick up too.

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wow - what a book on mental health and medication

This book begins by looking at how modern medicine has been such a benefit in so many areas such as treating leukaemia - once a disease that caused almost fatality and death in most children is now something that can be treated and managed and few children now die from this form of cancer. In fact in all areas of medicine, there has been great gains and successes in treating the health and well-being of others has been remarkable. However, there is one definite exception, the treatment of mental health.
- The book begins by looking at the DSM 5 which is the standard manual for diagnosing people with different conditions. The first edition began with 100 odd conditions and that has now increased to over 300. By understanding and supporting people with mental health disorders has still led to an increasing rise in suicide numbers and in fact people with mental health problems will often live 20 years less than that of their peers who don’t have such issues.
- In countries where we have seen a doubling in psychiatric medicine used to treat mental illness we have also seen a doubling in many side-effects and health problems related to these medicines. Medicines are not necessarily the solution. Yet we are giving them out in greater numbers.
- Labels have consequences and people who are given labels are then perceived by Society as well ourselves to be having medical and chemical chemical imbalances in the brain when many of these conditions will probably be part of the human condition. We can sometimes exasperate the problem.
- From the 1970s or beyond the solution became looking at sticking plasters to stick on everything from the welfare system to mental health problems. It gave rise to antidepressants medication, although studies showed that people who were on antipsychotic medication for depression for long periods actually showed the worst outcome when compared to those who stopped earlier - as well as those on none at all. In fact people on long term medication often became worse. Yet we still keep giving these medicines out.
- In the history of psychiatry, old treatments such as lobotomies are now considered barbaric but is the modern day model of psychiatry such as our increased use of anti-psychiatry medicine any better. In countries where mental health problems have risen with increases in anti-psychiatry medicines, there has also been an increase in related problems of mental health including bipolar, anxiety, depression and suicides. Therefore if we're just looking at medicialising people with mental health problems, are we really managing the problem by just putting a sticky plaster over everything.
- In the UK 44 million people are taking anti-psychotic medicines and more people are starting antipsychotic medicines than stopping and this is leading to a wide range of concerns including frontal lobe shrinkage and greater increases in variety and depression. Robert Whittaker studies also showed that even in conditions like schizophrenia that people on medicines were more likely to have worse outcomes than those stopping early or on medicines and even with those who are not on any form of treatment.
- Sometimes mental health services focus too much on what is wrong with someone as opposed to what happened to someone. So for example if you have an increased workload and you're not sleeping and therefore this is bringing you down and you feel a lot of stress and pressure it is often the remit of professionals to say that that person is suffering from depression rather than from an increased workload that could be managed and sorted rather than trying to manage the label of depression. Many well-being courses that are supplied by companies such as the NHS have no evidence to show that they work in regards to reducing stress and depression. If you have an increased workload for example, you find your job boring and you might have some personal problems it is totally natural to feel some signs of depression or sadness in your life but perhaps managing what it is it's bothering you might be more important than just going on the well-being course where are you practising mindfulness techniques. As already pointed out, no research shows that these kinds of courses actually support and help people and make any changes to their well-being and mental health status.
- Many of the approaches that look at well-being include things like have a checklist of things like missing work, taking increasing leave, being unresponsive even though many of these signs are not in any signs of diagnostic tools for depression and the focus on changing the person rather than the environment that they might be living in which could have more benefit is ignored by managers. Many of these wellbeing tools and are just a distraction and often take away the blame from employees ensuring that they're doing something but it's not necessarily the right solution.
- The book that then looks at a type of treatment called APT which will help people in times of stress but when you look at the statistical outcomes they show the same amount of recovery as people who haven't had any treatment even though they seem to fiddle the numbers to say that they are been a success. The greatest number of people who are struggling are actually people who are practitioners of APT therapy. They are constantly in burnout mode.
- After talking about work, the book then goes on to discuss how the rise of these approaches are being used in educational establishments. The author begins with the rise of special educational needs. The number of people with special educational needs has doubled in 10 years since 2010. Now that number now accounts for almost 20% of all schoolchildren in education. This could be their speech, language, cognition, learning, or behavioural issues. However, the biggest increase in this number is those with a mental health problem be at anxiety, depression, ADHD and behavioural problems.
- Mental health concerns have risen since 2004 by 48% with an estimated one in eight children suffering from some form of mental health condition or difficulty.
- Since the 1980s medications for mental health have increased by 400% with large numbers of people now on medication. But when you look at how a drug is approved there are an awful lot of flaws in the process of allowing a drug to be marketed and passed for use. For example there may be one positive clinical trial that can be accepted and submitted whilst admitting three negative trials that showed a drug not working can be excluded. It's also worth noting that on certain drug trials it might not necessarily be the best treatment but a form of treatment can be used on someone who might have a response or reaction to a far superior form of medicine. However, when these medicines are prescribed it is not for that reason but more probably to do with the fact that it has been marketed well even though the evidence is not robust and that it is also cheaper than a superior medicine which would be more effective in regards to treatment of mental health problems and conditions.
- We also live in an age where everything is about the economy and building money for shareholders and this in turns means that we treat happiness through buying consumer goods rather than actually looking to see what is in the best interest of people and society. One of the things that the author discusses is what are the things we should be considering and what kind of society do we want. I know I would like a kinder, warmer society with more empathy and curiosity and braveness rather than one that is drawn to human needs and greed. We can't just buy our way out of everything and maybe for happiness and contentment, we have to work on it through understanding and developing better morals as well as kindness and attitude.
- The book looks at how people who have aspirations and dreams and what they might buy can influence their personality, for example an interesting experiment was carried out in people who drove high status, expensive cars and low status cars and the people who drove shiny, expensive, high costing cars were more likely to not stop for a pedestrian that was trying to cross the road and show less consideration for others. In my own personal experience I feel that this is often true and that people in low status cars are less likely to cut up in front of people or stop when you are trying to cross a road as opposed to people who might have a nice shiny Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi.
- People with much more wealth and a higher status tend to be much less kinder in their attitude to others than people who have a low status position. The idea behind this is that people who are selfish or better paid tend to be more selfish in their approaches and behaviours to others. These ideas gave rise to a theory of materialism in that people who were more wealthy or a higher status tended to cheat more and find ways obtain things that people of low status weren't so bothered about. But people of high status and more wealth, also gave rise to a certain level of unhappiness. One example of this is that people with low status could be given the idea that they were a high status person and they then showed changes in their behaviour to seek more in the way of material goods and wealth. The main argument is that people who are wealthy tend to be more selfish but maybe that's part of why they have become wealthy. Many of these people who are obsessed by materialistic wealth goods often get something but as soon as the item has been bought they lose interest and seek something else. I generally believe that the love of money and the desire to have more and more of it is actually another kind of addiction in a similar way that someone might be addicted to heroin or gambling.
- Many children who become materialistic often have parents of a similar nature who don't care for them beyond what the child has achieved rather than offering love and acceptance from something else.
- Materialistic people often feel alienated and have social difficulties in forming relationships so they look for a crutch to help them feel more accepted in themselves but actually part of that results in a more selfish attitude. However the message in this book is that people who are materialistic are actually in many ways a part of their problem and they then seek something else. But the character flaw is there in the first place: they seek something to give them more status because they feel they lack something. This is something that I've often thought and found this really illuminating.
- The author looks also at how in modern day Britain, where schools are are ranked by league tables and even parents are putting high levels of pressure on their own children to succeed and pass exams, is it any wonder that children are feeling high levels of anxiety and sadness. In countries such as Canada, where things are much more relaxed, there are far fewer children with so-called mental health problems. It doesn't help that many of these needs are created not just by governments alone, but also by many parents.
- However, another point in this book is that suffering can actually cause many good things to occur. Think of the civil rights movement which was built on the suffering people were experiencing. Also, many people's suffering such as a death of a partner or child that has an illness can help us to truly start to reevaluate what is truly important in our life.
- A new form of a GP’s quick diagnostic checklist tool was also introduced to GP’s practices. These checklists allowed busy GP’s to check how somebody might be feeling low and lacking sleep could be used to determine if somebody had anxiety or depression but they set a really low bar. In 2002 treatment prescriptions for antipsychotics were at 25 million and now in 2021 they are at 75 million prescriptions a year. Note, these checklists were provided by pharmaceutical companies.
- The author discussed how capitalistic markets such as that that came about through Margaret Thatcher looked more at how people try to do the best that they can by themselves rather than being supported by the state. However, one of the questions we can often ask ourselves and a helpful thought experiment is why do so many people of socially deprived backgrounds make up the bulk of those who are on medication for mental health problems, is it something within themselves or is it something to do with the circumstances. Hard for a wealthy man (as already discussed) to have a clue what it is like to be raised in poverty.
- Many people believe that they wish to be more entitled and seek a more materialistic world of possession and privileges to help those with mental health problems to meet this need. But in countries where wealth is better distributed, people feel more secure and equal, less of these problems exist.
- For most of our history we have needed to act in a cooperative manner to be a part of a society that evolved over a long period of time to an egalitarian way of thinking. But now things have changed. There is a significant link of this book has already pointed out that sometimes inequality is driving increased levels of mental health.
- Reading this book has been an eye-opening experience. The book is beautifully written and I think all the points in this book are really worth thinking about. I'm going to give it to a lot of people. If you know someone on antipsychotics or who has been diagnosed with a mental health problem, or works or is a child in the educational system or an anything to do with life, this book is really worth reading and very important. This is one of those books that can change the way you look at things.

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14 people found this helpful

Must read!

Best educational book I’ve ever read. I feel much better aligned with current economical and political affairs. Clear and concise explanations with backed up reference.

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Brilliant

This book triggered a lot of aha moments for me. Will be purchasing a hard copy for reference

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Intelligent and Thought Provoking

This is a brilliant book which examines mental health in relation to societal changes over the last half century. It rings very true, and confirms what a lot of people are becoming more aware of about our current eco-politics - we are working hard to benefit the few at the detriment of the many. I reflected on the work and consider that many physical pathologies (which can be tested for) can also be laid at the feet of neoliberal politics. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in politics, in healthcare, in economics, in society or sociology - as well as mental health. I feel it is well written by a man who is deeply reflective and compassionate.

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Changes perception on mental health treatment

As someone who has experienced various mental health ‘illnesses’ in the past, and the various neo-liberal treatments I received, I found this book to offer a fresh perspective on the matter. The author offers an in-depth analysis on the way our society, governments and institutions perceive mental health, and the ineffective treatments currently on offer.

We need to stop depoliticising mental health ‘illness’ - and start talking more about the root causes. #votelabour

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This is like perfect model of connect dots

Smartest connections of causes , real roots for an issue at hand .
one thing this is Anthropology nook more than mental health book . Audible fix your algorithm.

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Mind-altering, invest 8 hours now - change forever

The most thought provoking book on the societal and institutional links to mental health that I've encountered,

James Davies is relentless in his (largely) evidence based take-down of how modern medicine and healthcare practices frame mental health challenges and how these, in turn, have been driven by pressures from business and industry to want cookie-cutter human resources to work in, and buy from, their industries.

The legendary Mark Elstob would make the most tedious subject matter appealing, but when coupled with such a compelling, yet jaw-dropping, narrative, this volume is as compelling as the best works of fiction.

If you've ever wondered why the western worlds mental health seems to have so rapidly declined and how (and why) 'fixing' this is so focussed on the symptoms rather than the causes buy this audiobook right away, life, as you see it, will never be the same again.

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1 person found this helpful