Product Description

Over the last thirty years, there has been a radical shift in thinking about the causes of mental illness. The psychiatric establishment and the health care industry have shifted 180 degrees from blaming mother to blaming the brain as the source of mental disorders. Whereas experience and environment were long viewed as the root causes of most emotional problems, now it is common to believe that mental disturbances -- from depression and anxiety to schizophrenia -- are determined by brain chemistry. And many people have come to accept the broader notion that their very personalities are determined by brain chemistry as well.

In his award-winning, meticulously researched, and elegantly written history of psychosurgery, Great and Desperate Cures, Elliot Valenstein exposed the great injury to thousands of lives that resulted when the medical establishment embraced an unproven approach to mental illness. Now, in Blaming the Brain he exposes the many weaknesses inherent in the scientific arguments supporting the widely accepted theory that biochemical imbalances are the main cause of mental illness. Valenstein reveals how, beginning in the 1950s, the accidental discovery of a few mood-altering drugs stimulated an enormous interest in psychopharmacology, resulting in staggering growth and profits for the pharmaceutical industry. He lays bare the commercial motives of drug companies and their huge stake in expanding their markets. Prozac, Thorazine, and Zoloft are just a few of the psychoactive drugs that have dramatically changed practice in the mental health profession. Physicians today prescribe them in huge numbers even though, as several major studies reveal, their effectiveness and safety have been greatly exaggerated.

Part history, part science, part exposé, and part solution, Blaming the Brain sounds a clarion call throughout our culture of quick-fix pharmacology and our increasing reliance on drugs as a cure-all for mental illness. This brilliant, provocative book will force patients, practitioners, and prescribers alike to rethink the causes of mental illness and the methods by which we treat it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69841 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.com Review
The odds are high that someone close to you has been told he or she has a "chemical imbalance" in the brain, but the odds are slim that the doctor who said it could point to any convincing evidence that it was true. The increasing awareness that most biological theories underlying diagnoses of depression, schizophrenia, and other mental problems are based very loosely on accidental drug discoveries and promoted heavily by pharmaceutical companies is the basis for neuroscientist Elliot S. Valenstein's book Blaming the Brain. Compelling reading for the age of Prozac, Blaming the Brain looks at the history of medical treatments for psychiatric disorders, and particularly the modern era of drug therapies, with the intent of uncovering whether science or rhetoric determines courses of treatment.

Claiming that there are no widely accepted theories of mental illness and that therapies are guided more by marketing than lab work hasn't won Valenstein many friends in psychiatry, but his scientific credibility is impeccable, and, better for the reader, his explanations of his doubts are clear and sensible. Whether discussing the "good old days" of insulin coma and electroshock therapies (after which drugs seemed a humane godsend) or the modern prospects of scientific research and medical clinics owned and directed by pharmaceutical companies, he maintains a calm, measured style that seeks to clothe the emperor, not replace him. Blaming the Brain is a powerful, thoroughly enjoyable book that will provoke much-needed thought and discussion on all sides of this important topic. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly
In the past 25 years, theories of mental illness have shifted from blaming mother to blaming the brain. While the prevailing view is that "mental illnesses are medical illnesses just like diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease," and it's estimated that 30 million people worldwide have taken Prozac, the truth, argues Valenstein, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan and the author of Great and Desperate Cures, is that we are only at the dawn of an understanding of mental illness. The studies he reviews indicate that a combination of medications and therapy offers the best chance of success at treating common disorders, although no one knows exactly why. Valenstein does a fine job of illuminating the various interests at work behind the ascendancy of purely biological hypotheses. They appeal to pharmaceutical companies, he suggests, for all the obvious reasons, and he details the impact that these companies have, at every level, on today's psychiatric landscape: from sponsoring research and colloquiums to lobbying government to marketing directly to both consumers and primary-care physicians?the largest prescribers of psychiatric drugs. The companies also, he reports, pressure editors of psychiatric journals, in which they also advertise, to downplay studies that cast doubt on the safety or usefulness of their drugs. Families and patients, meanwhile, embrace biological theories because they relieve them of the burden of blame, and physicians, he says, neglect their responsibility to report side effects to the FDA. This meticulously researched, evenhanded work deserves a large audience. Unfortunately, it's about as exciting to read as the fine print in your HMO contract; Valenstein, who comes out with both guns blazing, concentrates more on clearly digesting the data than on giving the story a human face.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

The Marketing of Mental Ilness
In the 1940's psychiatrists began the effort to convince humankind that mental illness was an epidemic - a "disease" which could strike anyone at any time. This fear mongering has continued unabated for 50 years despite a complete absence of any solid evidence that mental and emotional problems are caused by brain pathology. Valenstein argues convincingly that psychiatric chemical imbalance theories are seriously flawed and reveals the marketing and hype behind the push to convince us that life is essentially a disease. Psychiatric treatment leads invariably and inevitably to diminishing mental and physical health. Read Valenstein's book and you'll gain a great deal of insight into why that is true.

Controversial, possibly, but a wonderful and important book!
Valenstein does it again! After his insightful book on the history of psychosurgery, the author, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Michigan University, examines the biochemical theories of mental disorders. In a well-written book, Valenstein (a) describes the history of the major "theories" relating mental disease to brain function, and the history of the main psychotherapeutic drugs; (b) the empirical and logical basis of the claims that mental disorders are caused by chemical inbalances in the brain; and (c) the social, economic, and cultural contexts surrounding the use of psychothrapeutic drugs. Although not a physician, psychiatrist, or clinical psychologist, I admire the book for its extensive review of the scientific literature, for its success at explaining the main ideas about mental disease and brain science to the nonspecialist, and for its thoughtful conclusions. Perhaps the book's greatest virtue is to remind us of how ignorant we still are about the causes of schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder, and many other mental conditions. In a word, read this excellent book. The writing is also elegant.

Truth that few will want to hear
This book is academically excellent and substantianted well beyond what should have even been necessary. However, it clearly remains "news" that most patients will resist. While the author does a wonderful job of explaining the motivations for medical companies/drug manufacturers, etc. to continue to preach neurobiological causes for most/many emotional disturbances, the patient population is likely the group most resistant to hearing its truth. (...) patients try hard to believe there is a physical cause rather than emotional and to hand our brains over to someone to "fix" rather than risk partnering with a good doctor to mutually share in the work of recovery. I have recommended this book to several "hard sell" patient-friends who comphrehend its WORDS, but fail to accept the reality. Amazingly, the author is not trying to persuade those who don't want to hear, but seems content to provide informative documentation for those of us who already understand his point. And fascinating reading it is. He clearly knows the uphill battle he's undertaken, and doesn't prostelytize or belittle in his efforts to explain. Thanks, doctor, for a mature book about much that many of us simply aren't ready to face yet. Hang in there. Truth lasts longer than denial. - Janine Baker, author of Tales From A Thousand And One Freudian Nights