Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation

by Charles M. Barber, M.F.A., lecturer in psychiatry (Pantheon) The author argues that without an industry to promote them, nonpharmaceutical approaches to reducing emotional distress are overlooked by a nation that sees drugs as instant cure-alls. He argues that Americans are under increasing pressure to self-medicate. In analyzing these influences, Barber cites direct-to-consumer advertising; the promise of the quick fix; and the blurring of the distinction between mental illness—for which medication might be appropriate—and everyday emotional problems. Barber then offers therapeutic alternatives to prescription antidepressants.