Praise for Mad in America
“An articulate dissection of ‘mad medicine.’ . . . A horrifying history.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“This book’s lessons about the medical dangers of greed, ego and sham are universal and couldn’t be more timely. . . . People should read this excellent book.”
—Baltimore Sun
“An insightful and haunting tale.”
—National Journal
“A powerfully disturbing reading experience. . . . Whitaker’s book does a singular service in reminding us that authority of all sorts—medical, state, or the unholy combination of both that has frequently defined psychiatry—is always in danger of shifting into tyranny.”
—Reason
“A disturbing book; it should be carefully studied by those who care for, or about, the mentally ill.”
—Psychology Today
“The most important bit of mental health muckraking since Deutsch’s
The Shame of the States was published in 1948.”
—In These Times
“Robert Whitaker has written a fascinating and provocative book—a history of the way Americans understand schizophrenia and attempt to treat it, each twist and turn of which is marked by the hubris that at last we have the answer. And as he makes clear, we still do not, nor are we anywhere near as humane in caring for the schizophrenics in our midst as we think we are.”
—Marcia Angell, M.D., Harvard Medical School, former Editor-in-Chief, New England Journal of Medicine
“Serious and well documented.”
—American Scientist
“
Mad in America is a dose of truth therapy for a seriously disturbed mental health system. . . . This courageous book made me want to stand up and cheer.”
—David Oaks, Director, Support Coalition International
“Controversial . . . [Whitaker] marshals a surprising amount of evidence.”
—Chicago Tribune
“[
Mad in America] is mandatory reading.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer
“Investigative journalism at its scholarly, perceptive, and explanatory best.
Mad in America presents an insightful, courageous exposé of how madness went from ‘out of mind, out of sight’ to a source of massive corporate profits.”
—Loren R. Mosher, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,
University of California at San Diego, and
former Chief, Center for Studies of Schizophrenia,
National Institute of Mental Health
“An extraordinarily well-researched work on a part of our history that most Americans don’t know the first thing about. A simply fascinating read, whether you are involved in the American mental health system or not.”
—Margot Kidder
“
Mad in America is a bleak look at the history of mental health treatment. It calls for answers and accountability for practices that can no longer be ignored.”
—The Common Review
“This is such an important book that every psychiatrist should be compelled to read at least the preface, every year. And everyone else should then insist on them describing in writing, every year, what they’re doing about it.”
—New Scientist
“This courageous and compelling book succeeds as both a history of our attitudes toward mental illness and a manifesto for changing them.”