Medications, Parrots, and Crazy Virginia Laws

For today's post, I'd like to send you around the web.First, Pete Earley has a piece up by Robert Whitaker of Mad in America. Whitaker clarifies his position on antipsychotic medications and how their use should be avoided or minimized  in Robert Whitaker Explains his Research after being Pigeon-holed as Anti-Medication.  Let me add my bias: I didn't like Whitaker's book Anatomy of an Epidemic where he concluded that anti-psychotics cause psychiatric disability.  His point was correlational -- as anti-psychotic use went up, so did SSDI (government disability) claims. It's not that easy -- there are other factors that contribute to disability claims including financial & social incentives and the acceptability of being on SSDI.  After you read the post on Pete's blog, I'd like to make two points:~I don't think that it's controversial that people should be on the lowest possible dose of medications --any medications.  Unfortunately, in psychiatry, we figure out the lowest dose by dropping the medications until someone gets sick.  It's not benign, with each small drop in dose there is some risk that a person will end up psychotic, in the hospital, or unable to function, and recovery can take months or more.  So when someone is doing well, working and involved in meaningful relationships, it's not a low risk issue to drop medications.  If they are having side effects, it's a lot easier to take this risk, because at least you're addressi...
Source: Shrink Rap - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Source Type: blogs