Commonsense Rebellion: Debunking Psychiatry, Confronting Society : An A to Z Guide to Rehumanizingour Lives

by Levine, Bruce E.

• ISBN13: 9780826413154
• ISBN10: 0826413153
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Academic

Summary

Institutional mental health's "illnesses" and "treatments" are contrasted with commonsense explanations and solutions. In recent years the mental health industry has been attacked for the invalidity of its illnesses, the unreliability of its diagnoses, the dangers of its treatments, and its corruption by drug companies. Commonsense Rebellion integrates those critiques and goes further. Nearly 1 in 4 American adults take psychiatric drugs, and Ritalin production has increased 800 percent since 1990. Yet the mental health industry laments the fact that two-thirds of us with diagnosable mental disorders do not seek treatment. This book argues that "institutional mental health's" ever-increasing diseases, disorders, and drugs have diverted us from examining an important rebellion against an increasingly impersonal and coercive "institutional society" which worships speed, power, and technology. This has created fantastic wealth--at least for some--but its disregard for human autonomy, community, and diversity has come with a cost. Depression has reportedly increase

Author Biography

Bruce E. Levine, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in private practice for more than seventeen years, is on the advisory council of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction ``Why do we need Commonsense Rebellion?''	1	(13)
The A to Z Guide
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)	14	(14)
``Do we really want our bored kids drugged?''
Bad Boys: Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder	28	(11)
``Is noncompliance really a disease?''
Chemical Dependency	39	(13)
``What facts are being hidden from us?''
Depression	52	(15)
``Antidepressants---miracle drugs or snake oil?''
Education	67	(14)
``What is really learned in school?''
Food and Fat	81	(9)
``Is this a medical or a cultural problem?''
Gambling	90	(8)
``How is it taking over our society?''
Health Care: Hospitals, HMOs, and Heteronomy	98	(10)
``How are we, at every level, giving up control over our own health?''
Incarceration	108	(10)
``Why has the United States become the world's leading jailer?''
Jobs	118	(12)
``Are we finding meaning and satisfaction in our worklife?''
Konsumerism, Kommercials, and Kids	130	(10)
``Is consumerism America's true religion?''
Lucre: Money and Hypocrisy	140	(7)
``Do we think critically when it comes to money?''
Mass Society	147	(10)
``Why is it that the bigger our institutions get, the unhappier we are?''
Newest Nomenclature: The DSM-IV	157	(9)
``Scientifically, are psychiatric diagnoses of any value?''
Online	166	(8)
``Should we have any concerns?''
Pavlov, Punishment, and Positive Reinforcement: Behavior Modification	174	(9)
``Is a manipulative society a healthy one?''
Quantities and Quotients: IQ	183	(9)
``Why do we need to rank, and how do we define intelligence?''
Road Less Traveled? Institutional Psychotherapy	192	(9)
``Does institutional mental health offer a truly humanistic alternative?''
Schizophrenia and Success	201	(15)
``Have we jumped the gun on our assumptions about people who act crazy?''
Television	216	(10)
``What are its true dangers, the ones the media don't address?''
U.S. Government	226	(11)
``Why don't we vote or do so with little enthusiasm?''
Viagra and Venus: Selling Sex and Relationships	237	(10)
``What's wrong with technologizing our sexuality and relationships?''
Web: The Institutional Illness Web	247	(1)
``What does it look like?''
Xanax and Anxiety	248	(9)
``How are we becoming a drug-dependent society?''
Y2K Compliance: Technics and Machine Worship	257	(11)
``Should we worship technology---or assess each technology for potential dehumanizing effects?''
Zero Except Some Zinsser and Diseasing	268	(1)
``Do we all disease that which we dislike?''
More Commonsense Steps to Commonsense Living	269	(25)
Regaining Autonomy
Restoring Community
Reclaiming Our Humanity
The Struggle against Coercion and Manipulation
Better Living without Chemicals
Helping Another Human Being
When to Fire My Helper
Knowing Early on If You Have the Right Helper
Remembering Who You Are
Final Thoughts: Morale
Notes	294