The first book in the world about the issue of successfully coming off psychiatric drugs primarily addresses people in treatment who decide to withdraw. It also addresses their relatives and therapists. +++ Millions of people are taking psychiatric drugs, such as Haloperidol, Prozac, Risperidone or Zyprexa; for them, detailed accounts of how others came off these substances without ending up in the doctor's office, are of fundamental interest. In this manual, 26 former psychiatric patients...

Doctors, including psychiatrists, prescribe antidepressants, neuroleptics ("antipsychotics"), mood stabilizers, tranquilizers and psychostimulants all over the world, and, in most cases, without providing information about the risks of taking them and problems when stopping, for example, adverse effects, tolerance formation, bodily and psychological dependence and withdrawal symptoms. Nor they tell people about ways to avoid or minimize the risks. +++ This volume presents a collaboration o...

Everyone knows that antidepressant drugs are miracles of modern medicine. Professor Irving Kirsch knew this as well as anyone. But, as he discovered during his research, there is a problem with what everyone knows about antidepressant drugs. It isn't true.How did antidepressant drugs gain their reputation as a magic bullet for depression? And why has it taken so long for the story to become public? Answering these questions takes us to the point where the lines bet...

Towards the end of the twentieth century, the solution to mental illness seemed to be found. It lay in biological solutions, focusing on mental illness as a problem of the brain, to be managed or improved through drugs. We entered the 'Prozac Age' and believed we had moved on definitively from the time of frontal lobotomies to an age of good and successful mental healthcare. Biological psychiatry had triumphed.Except maybe it hadn't. Starting with surprising evidence from the World...

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a serious anxiety-related condition which affects as many as three in a hundred people – from young children to older adults – regardless of gender and social or cultural background. Sufferers often go undiagnosed for many years, because of the lack of understanding surrounding the condition, as well as the intense feelings of embarrassment, guilt and shame that a sufferer may experience.The illness can have a devastating effect on work, socia...

"Dr. Paris has written an honest, balanced presentation of the ways in which psychiatric drugs are evaluated and prescribed. He highlights the complexity of the task, the limits of what is known and the mixed picture that research often produces. His conclusions are refreshing because they are built from an even-handed, pragmatic assessment of the empirical evidence. The result is a stimulating look at the world of treatments for emotional disorders that acknowledges the usefulness of both...

Reflecting the recent increased public awareness of the topic, this is the first and most comprehensive resource for over a decade on the molecular basis, prevalence, treatment options, socioeconomic impact and prevention strategies of FADS. Edited by world-renowned experts, this compendium includes the latest research results to provide new insights and realistic estimations of FADS frequencies in Western communities.An invaluable resource for every professional dealing with the di...

THE INFORMATION IN THIS book is based on the authors personal research and opinions and is intended to assist readers in their journey of healing and recovery. It is provided for educational purposes only and cannot replace competent medical diagnosis and treatment. People with a psychiatric condition are advised to seek assistance from appropriately qualified mental health professionals. Anyone already receiving medical treatment should consult with the prescribing doctor before altering and...

This book is the collected images of Joanna Walitalo's first five years of woodburning artwork. Pyrography, the use of heat or fire to create an image, is an uncommon and sometimes under-appreciated media in the art world and commonly considered more of a craft. Joanna, like many other Midwest kids, was given a craft wood-burner when she was young, tried it once or twice, burnt herself and subsequently put it away. Many years later, she picked it up again, and this time stuck with it, push...

Are hallucinations and delusions really symptoms of an illness called ‘schizophrenia’? Are mental health problems really caused by chemical imbalances and genetic predispositions? Are psychiatric drugs as effective and safe as the drug companies claim? Is madness preventable?This second edition of Models of Madness challenges those who hold to simplistic, pessimistic and often damaging theories and treatments of madness. In particular it challenges beliefs that madness can...

This carefully crafted ebook is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a developmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. As a milder autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it differs from other ASDs by relatively normal language and intelligence. Although not required ...

The biological and psychological basis of pet therapy / animal-assisted therapy and what this means for practice "A comprehensive, scientific foundation for human-animal therapy." (Judith Solomon) In recent years, the ancient symbiosis between humans and their pets has entered a new phase, marked by the burgeoning clinical specialty of human-animal therapy. This approach uses the relationship between humans and their (mainly) mammalian pets to support the growth of emotion regulation, soci...