We have never met, but I feel a kinship to Robert Whitaker. We have both written about mental health topics, him much more impressively, and we both have a connection to William Glasser, me much more extensively. Whitaker has written several important books, including Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill (2001) and Psychiatry Under the Influence: Institutional Corruption, Social Injury, and Prescriptions for Reform (2015). I have written about his work in previous posts, which you can access by clicking on these links –
Glasser was very impressed with the ideas expressed in Mad in America and bought 100 copies of the book to share with people. I found it to be fascinating and troubling at the same time and referred to it in parts of the Glasser biography. I recently became aware of an interview sponsored by Parenting Today, and conducted by Heather Juergensen, that is entitled How Psychiatry Came to Be. The interview’s reach is much wider than the title implies, though, and includes the need for full disclosure before children, or anybody else for that matter, are prescribed brain drugs for conditions labeled as Attention Deficit or Bipolar.
The interview is almost an hour long, yet it is compelling throughout. Rather than looking at the clock I was caught up in Whitaker’s descriptions, explanations, and research. If you are thinking of the present state of affairs in mental health, and particularly of the use of drugs to modify thinking and moods, especially with children and teenagers, this is an interview you will want to hear.
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Just a reminder that the biography – William Glasser: Champion of Choice – is available through different sellers. Click on any of the links that follow to quickly get a copy of the book.
Zeig, Tucker & Thiesen Publishing (digital copy)
The Better Plan . . 
Jim: After Mad in America (and Bill’s approval of it), I facilitated a professional development seminar in Ireland. I charged everyone 5 p—or maybe a penny— as that was symbolic of the charge made for people to see the “insane” at “Bedlam.”). We discussed the history and evolution of mental distress. This time of year in Vermont always invites me to revisit “seasonal affective disorder” because another great psychiatrist, Dr. Peter Whybrow, wrote a book re the “hibernation response” which he viewed as normal; of course, the DSM relabeled this as “SAD” and sold everyone special lights, etc. Lately I have wondered whether this sort of emphasis on mental “illness” is particularly intense in a capitalistic society in which great money can be made to “treat” total behavior which emerges as sad or sorrowful. Just today I received an email from an extraordinary young women in Minnesota who already feels sad at the first sighting of snowflakes!!!! She doesn’t want to see a psychiatrist as she does not want to be put on brain drugs. Smart woman.
Keep up the great work—the world needs you!!!!!!
Such an important topic that doesn’t get discussed (or criticized) enough. Thank you!