An edition of Mad in America (2001)

Mad in America

Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill

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  • 4.7 (3 ratings) ·
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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 22, 2019 | History
An edition of Mad in America (2001)

Mad in America

Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill

  • 4.7 (3 ratings) ·
  • 14 Want to read
  • 2 Currently reading
  • 4 Have read

In Mad in America, medical journalist Robert Whitaker reveals an astounding truth: Schizophrenics in the United States currently fare worse than patients in the world's poorest countries, and quite possibly worse than asylum patients did in the early nineteenth century. With a muckraker's passion, Whitaker argues that modern treatments for the severely mentally ill are just old medicine in new bottles, and that we as a society are deeply deluded about their efficacy. Tracing over three centuries of "cures" for madness, Whitaker shows how medical therapies have been used to silence patients and dull their minds. He tells of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century practices of "spinning" the insane, extracting their teeth, ovaries, and intestines, and submerging patients in freezing water. The "cures" in the 1920s and 1930s were no less barbaric as eugenic attitudes toward the mentally ill led to brain-damaging lobotomies and electroshock therapy. Perhaps Whitaker's most damning revelation, however, is his report of how drug companies in the 1980s and 1990s skewed their studies in an effort to prove the effectiveness of their products. Based on exhaustive research culled from old patient medical records, historical accounts, numerous interviews, and hundreds of government documents, Mad in America raises important questions about our obligations to the mad, what it means to be "insane," and what we value most about the human mind.

Publish Date
Publisher
Perseus Publishing
Language
English
Pages
304

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Mad in America
Mad in America
2010, Basic Books
E-book in English
Cover of: Mad In America
Mad In America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and The Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
April 15, 2003, Perseus Publishing
Paperback in English
Cover of: Mad in America
Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
December 24, 2001, Perseus Publishing
Hardcover in English

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Book Details


First Sentence

"A VISITOR TO THE "mad" wards of Pennsylvania Hospital at the turn of the nineteenth century would have found the halls astir with an air of reform."

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Number of pages
304
Dimensions
9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
Weight
1.3 pounds

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL7899420M
Internet Archive
madinamericabads00whit
ISBN 10
0738203858
ISBN 13
9780738203850
Library Thing
68018
Goodreads
1998378

Source records

Internet Archive item record

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
July 22, 2019 Edited by MARC Bot remove fake subjects
July 22, 2017 Edited by Mek adding subject: In library
January 13, 2012 Edited by ImportBot import new book
June 23, 2010 Edited by ImportBot add details from OverDrive
December 14, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page