References

These references will give you a peak into the abundance of literature that is little heard of in the mainstream monologue related to psychiatry, psychiatric drugs, mental health diagnoses and the so-called biochemical disorder of the brain called a mental illness.  Many of these references were utilized in Dr. Nerad’s doctoral dissertation, but these are not the sum total of the literature review done.  Herein she seeks to give you the missing side of the discussion around mental health.  As you can imagine there is much to this conversation.  Book 2 in the Power to Silence series will walk down the "road less traveled," so we may gain in understanding from that which has been withheld and pooh-poohed by the powers that be.

One of the best books you could read to give context and deepen your understanding as to why the mental health side of medicine has grown roots into all aspects of society with literally no oversight is, Psychiatry Under the Influence: Institutional Corruption, Social Injury, and Prescriptions for Reform, by Robert Whitaker and Lisa Cosgrove.



Angell, M. (2005). The truth about the drug companies: How they deceive us and what to do about it. Random House. https://amzn.to/3OqiHvz

Bach, A. (2009). Ordinary injustice: How America holds court. Henry Holt. https://amzn.to/3ZoELwN

Breggin, P. R. (1991). Toxic psychiatry. St. Martin’s Press.  https://amzn.to/3OruR78

Breggin, P. R. (2008). Brain-disabling treatments in psychiatry: Drugs, electroshock, and the psychopharmaceutical complex. Springer. https://amzn.to/49cxX8J

Breggin, P. R., & Breggin, G. R. (1998). The war against children of color: Psychiatry targets inner city youth. Common Courage Press. https://amzn.to/4eOGCiW

Burstow, B. (2004). Progressive psychotherapist and the psychiatric survivor movement. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 44(2), 141–154. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167804263067

Burstow, B. (2015). Psychiatry and the business of madness: An ethical and epistemological accounting. Palgrave Macmillan. https://amzn.to/4i90gc7

Burstow, B., LeFrancois, B. A., & Diamond, S. (Eds.). (2014). Psychiatry disrupted: Theorizing resistance and crafting the (R)evolution. McGill Queens University Press. https://amzn.to/3Z6yJQ5

Burstow, B., & Weitz, D. (Eds.). (1988). Shrink resistant: The struggle against psychiatry in Canada. New Star Books. https://amzn.to/3AXkbKB

Caplan, P. J. (1995). They say you’re crazy: How the world’s most powerful psychiatrists decide who’s normal. Perseus Books. https://amzn.to/3OuaHtp

Cosgrove, L., & Krimsky, S. (2012). A comparison of DSM-IV and DSM-5 panel members’ financial associations with industry: A pernicious problem persists. PLoS Med, 9(3), Article e1001190. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001190

Cosgrove, L., Krimsky, S., Vijayaraghavan, M., & Schneider, L. (2006). Financial ties between DSM-IV panel members and the pharmaceutical industry. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 75, 154–160. https://doi.org/10.1159/000091772

Cosgrove, L., & Wheeler, E. E. (2013). Industry’s colonization of psychiatry: Ethical and practical implications of financial conflicts of interest in the DSM-5. Feminism & Psychology, 23(1), 93–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353512467972

Das, R. (2019, May 14). Are direct-to-consumer ads for drugs doing more harm than good? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/reenitadas/2019/05/14/direct-to-consumer-drug-ads-are-they-doing-more-harm-than-good/?sh=9dd6e514dfc6

Dineen, T. (2001). Manufacturing victims: What the psychology industry is doing to people. A Studio 9/Robert Davies Book. https://amzn.to/3OAiDcp

Frances, A. (2009, June 27). A warning sign on the road to the DSM-V: Beware of its unintended consequences. Psychiatric Times, 26(8). https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/warning-sign-road-dsm-v-beware-its-unintended-consequences

Frances, A. (2012a, May 11). Diagnosing the D.S.M. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/opinion/break-up-the-psychiatric-monopoly.html

Frances, A. (2012b, December 2). DSM 5 is guide not bible—Ignore its ten worst changes: APA approval is a sad day for psychiatry. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201212/dsm-5-is-guide-not-bible-ignore-its-ten-worst-changes

Geller, J. L., & Harris, M. (1994). Women of the asylum: Voices from behind the walls, 18401945. Anchor Books. https://amzn.to/4eQrsJO

Grassley, C. (2009, December 8). Grassley works for disclosure of drug company payments to medical groups [News release]. https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-works-disclosure-drug-company-payments-medical-groups

Hiday, V. A. (1982). The attorney’s role in involuntary civil commitment. North Carolina Law Review, 60(5), Article 4. https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?httpsredir=1&article=2883&context=nclr

Jackson, D. D. (1967). The myth of normality. Medical Opinion and Review, 3(5), 28–33. https://www.carterandevans.com/storage/app/media/library/understanding/article-the-myth-of-normality.pdf

Jackson, G. E. (2005). Rethinking psychiatric drugs: A guide for informed consent. AuthorHouse. https://amzn.to/4g7oDoK

Jackson, G. E. (2009). Drug-induced dementia: A perfect crime. AuthorHouse.  https://amzn.to/4fLyelC

Kirk, S. A., Gomory, T., & Cohen, D. (2013). Mad science: Psychiatric coercion, diagnosis, and drugs. Transaction. https://amzn.to/4fGKMKW

Kirk, S. A., & Kutchins, H. (1992). The selling of the DSM: The rhetoric of science in psychiatry. Transaction.  https://amzn.to/3VbP3Oo

Kirk, S. A., & Kutchins, H. (1997). Making us crazy—DSM: The psychiatric bible and the creation of mental disorders. Free Press. https://amzn.to/4i1Kosd

Mair, J. M. M. (1989). Kelly, bannister and a storytelling psychology. International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, 2(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/08936038908404734

Mair, J. M. M. (2014). Another way of knowing: The poetry of psychological inquiry (S. King-Spooner, Ed.). Raven Books.  https://amzn.to/3ZornZs

Marohn, S. (2003). The natural medicine guide to schizophrenia. Hampton Roads. https://amzn.to/497H0b7

Moncrieff, J., Cooper, R. E., Stockman, T., Amdendola, S., Hengartner, M. P., & Horowitz, M. A. (2022, July 20). The serotonin theory of depression: A systematic umbrella review of the evidence. Molecular Psychiatry, 28, 3243–3256. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01661-0

Perlin, M. L. (2000). The hidden prejudice: Mental disability on trial. American Psychological Association.  https://amzn.to/4g8FIPq

Rosenhan, D. L. (1973, January 19). On being sane in insane places. Science, 179, 250–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-017738-0.50055-7

Spretnak, C. (1999). The resurgence of the real: Body, nature, and place in a hypermodern world. Routledge. https://amzn.to/3ASnXVE

Spretnak, C. (2011). Relational reality: New discoveries of interrelatedness that are transforming the modern world. Green Horizon Books. https://amzn.to/4g9Ro4y

Szasz, T. (Ed.). (1973). The age of madness: The history of involuntary mental hospitalization presented in selected texts. Doubleday Anchor. https://amzn.to/3Z3wAoe

Szasz, T. (1974). The myth of mental illness: Foundations of a theory of personal conduct. Perennial-Harper Collins. https://amzn.to/499kbUu

Szasz, T. (1990). Psychiatric training: The ritualized indoctrination of the young physician into the theory and practice of psychiatric violence. In T. Szasz (Ed.), The untamed tongue: A dissenting dictionary. Open Court.

Szasz, T. (2003). Pharmacracy: Medicine and politics in America. First Syracuse University Press. https://amzn.to/3CLZbXT

Szasz, T. (2007a). Coercion as cure: A critical history of psychiatry. Transaction. https://amzn.to/416Xk9R

Szasz, T. (2007b). The medicalization of everyday life. Syracuse University Press. https://amzn.to/4f6D9MZ

Szasz, T. (2008). Psychiatry: The science of lies. Syracuse University Press. https://amzn.to/3Vfgwie

Watters, E. (2010). Crazy like us: The globalization of the American psyche. Free Press. https://amzn.to/4g8TBwQ

Whitaker, R. (2010). Anatomy of an epidemic: Magic bullets, psychiatric drugs, and the astonishing rise of mental illness in America. Random House. https://amzn.to/4eLrUcB

Whitaker, R., & Cosgrove, L. (2015). Psychiatry under the influence: Institutional corruption, social injury, and prescriptions for reform. Palgrave McMillan. https://amzn.to/3ZoELwN

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important information


The Patrice Nerad, PhD website, based on the experience of grave systemic dysfunction experienced by the author with her illegal civil commitment and forced drugging, layered on top of her academic and early research in this field, encourages you to take heed of Dr. Breggin's warning below and to seek out appropriate professionals for your personal circumstance. Whether they are in the alternative or complementary medicine realm such as functional medicine doctors, naturopaths, or even a mainstream clinician with understanding of and proficiency in getting to the root of what you feel is going on in your body, finding the right person is key to your long-term health and healing. Always get more than one opinion and seek biological testing to learn if there is a root cause for your distress. Dr. Sydney Walker, III, M.D. from his book A Dose of Sanity reminds us that, “physical disorders can masquerade as emotional disorders. Before filling that prescription, find out what the real problem is.Reminder: currently there are no tests to determine a mental disorder or the so-named biochemical disorder of the brain and they can be quick to categorize you. If you are seeking to taper off of psychiatric medications find a clinician with understanding of and proficiency in the tapering protocol. Dr. Nerad recommends any protocol followed also be inclusive of nutritional and nutraceutical components that may be required to aid in the repair of the brain and the whole body. 

Be well in body, mind, heart & spirit.

A Warning from psychiatrist Dr. Peter R. Breggin excerpted from his books, Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry: Drugs, Electroshock and the Psychopharmaceutical Complex and Toxic Psychiatry.

“Psychiatric drugs are far more dangerous to take than many doctors and patients realize, but they can also become hazardous during the withdrawal process.  In short, it is dangerous to start psychiatric drugs and dangerous to stop them. Many are addictive, and most can produce withdrawal symptoms that are emotionally and physically distressing and sometimes life-threatening.  Tapering off psychiatric drugs should usually be done gradually with the aid of experienced clinical supervision.”

A website cannot substitute for individualized medical or psychological care, and this website is not intended as a treatment guide.  It is for informational purposes only.