Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Psychopharmacology is not Evidence-Based Medicine; Peter C. Gøtzsche.- Chapter 2. Starting Young: Children Cultured into Becoming Psycho-Pharmaceutical Consumers – The Example of Childhood Depression; Sami Timimi.- Chapter 3. Opium and the People: The Prescription Psychopharmaceutical Epidemic in Historical Context; Joanna Moncrieff.- Chapter 4. Desperate for a Fix: My Story of Pharmaceutical Misadventure; Luke Montagu.- Chapter 5. Neuroleptic (Antipsychotic) Drugs: An Epidemic of Tardive Dyskinesia and Related Brain Injuries Afflicting Tens of Millions; Peter R. Breggin.- Chapter 6. Psychiatry Under the Influence; Robert Whitaker.- Chapter 7. Political Pills: Psychopharmaceuticals and Neoliberalism as Mutually Supporting; James Davies.- Chapter 8. Psychopharmaceuticals as ‘Essential Medicines’: Local Negotiations of Global Access to Psychotherapeutic Medicines in India; China Mills.- Chapter 9. The Public and Private Lives of Psychopharmaceuticals in the Global South; Stefan Ecks.- Chapter 10. A Manifesto for Psychological Health and Wellbeing; Peter Kinderman. 

Promotional Information

"The most authoritative and wide-ranging critique yet published of the global trend towards chemical management of psychological and social problems ... . Hard-hitting, scholarly and highly readable." (Professor David Ingleby, Centre for Social Science and Global Health, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) "The Sedated Society is a provocative critique of the over-prescription psychiatric drugs, their minimal effectiveness, and the dangers they pose. The authors are eminent experts and their conclusions are important and troubling. It should be required reading for all medical students." (Prof Irving Kirsch, Associate Director at the Harvard Medical School, USA) "A brilliant revelation of our drug-hooked world ... .With admirable clarity and panache the contributors chart the incredible story of bad science, naivety and greed that has enslaved the lives of millions." (Paul Flynn MP, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons)

About the Author

James Davies holds a PhD in social and medical anthropology from the University of Oxford, UK. He is a Reader in social anthropology and mental health at the University of Roehampton, UK, practicing psychotherapist, and author of three books.

Reviews

“I can recommend The Sedated Society as a stimulating case for the existence of overprescription and for the acknowledgment of the various harms associated with psychiatric medications. … Mental health clinicians, service-users, and researchers of all stripes will find the volume of interest.” (Daniel J. Dunleavy, metapsychology online reviews, metapsychology.mentalhelp.net, Vol. 22 (4), January, 2018)