( 6 reviews )
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( 7 of 11 found this review helpful ) Posted: Mar 5 2007
I do own a number of Breggin's books and I like his overall viewpoint. But, more recently have come to realize that in many respects he is an unscientific zealot. For instance, in 2005, a court disqualified the testimony of Breggin because it did not meet the scientific rigor established by the Frye Standard. The judge stated: "...Breggin spends 14 pages critiquing the treatment provided not because it ran counter to the acceptable standards of care, but because it ran counter to Breggin's personal ideas and ideologies of what the standards ought to be." In yet two other cases: A Maryland judge in a medical malpractice case in 1995 said, "I believe that his bias in this case is blinding. . . he was mistaken in a lot of the factual basis for which he expressed his opinion." In that same year a Virginia judge excluded Breggin's testimony stating, "This court finds that the evidence of Peter Breggin, as a purported expert, fails nearly all particulars under the standard set forth in Daubert and its progeny. . . Simply put, the Court believes that Dr. Breggin's opinions do not rise to the level of an opinion based on 'good science'." ____________________________ Again, Breggin makes some very good points, but he seems to be on a crusade. I think a more balanced book is "Blaming the Brain" by Vaillant. He is a true scientist and researhcer (in fact a Ph.D.) and he is much more fair. In fact, he explicitly states that he is not totally against psychiatric medications. The other VERY important point here is not to confuse SCIENCE and MEDICINE. The former being a set of prinicipals and methodologies seeking the "truth." MEDICINE on the other hand is a "craft" and an art, which sometimes incorporates science and other times is less scientific. However, this criticism against psychiatry is unfair in that the same critiques can be lodged at any medical doctor within ANY specialty, not just psychiatry. Medical doctors in all specialties prescribe medicinces all of the time for "off label" uses because the drugs work for that symptom or disorder, depsite the fact that the doctor has not the slighest clue why it seems to work. The important point here is that psychiatry in itself is a field of medicince and I do not believe proponents ever claimed it to be a branch of science. In any event,I do agree with some of what Breggin says, but I think a better and more balanced read is "Blaming the Brain", as I noted above.
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( 5 of 12 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 25 2006
Dr. Peter R. Breggin's work is excellent. Drugs are KILLING many people before their "natural" time to die has come. Breggin can help persons to stop killing themselves with those horrible medications. Read the book and get better without drugs.
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( 17 of 38 found this review helpful ) Posted: Feb 10 2006
If there is anyway to make a quick dollar today, its for some moronic MD to write another book about the use of anti-depressents. I really wish that people would stopped reading this garbage, and just do what they feels is right, and stop believing everything someone says just because they have the letter MD in front of their name. The reason I take this personally is that I have been diagnosed with a mental illness, and these drugs have saved my life. I have tried everything, from exercise, to herbals, to vitimins, to theropy, and even though they help, w/o the drugs, I am unable to function. Yes, it is true, these are some strong drugs, and doctors do Overpriscribe them, yet at the same time, they can do wonders for people who dont react well to "Alternitive Theropy" so the person can live a normal life. Every drug has side effects, and little is known about long lasting effects. Does this mean that people with other diseases shouldn't take Meds, should they sufefer and Die because of side effects from Meds, or do you take a chance and possibly live longer. DOnt believe the hype with these [...]. The human brain is still the one body part that doctors are still puzzled with, and little is known of why stuff happens to it. Take your meds, dont suffer, live longer, and tell Peter R. Breggin to go [..](oh yes that is anger created by the use of Effexor..)
