Psychiatric Medications and Recovery

Welcome to the first discussion topic on SAPT Recovery.  Our hope is that in addition to being a resource for service providers, this site will provide a forum for consumers and service providers to share perspectives on approaches that are most helpful for supporting the process of recovery.

 Behavioral Healthcare Magazine published an interview with Robert Whitaker, author of the 2010 book about psychiatric medications entitled “Anatomy of An Epidemic”.  In both the interview and the book, Mr. Whitaker expresses concern about the rise in the number of people with disabilities related to mentally illness in recent years and about the long term effect of psychiatric medications.  The two part interview with the author entitled “Transforming Our Thinking About Psychiatric Medications” and rebuttals by William Glazer, M.D. can be viewed on-line at www.behavioral.net/magazine-issues (View Issue Archives: July-August, September, October, and November-December 2011).  Mr. Whitaker’s response to the rebuttal can be viewed at his blog site in Mad in America, entitled “Answering the Critics: Let’s Roll the Tape (Again)” (11/30/11) www.madinamerica.com.  His work has stimulated some spirited discussions that have important implications for how we can best support the process of recovery from serious mental illnesses.

I thought we could start out with a question for consumers and later invite service providers to share perspectives. 

How have medications helped or hindered your process of recovery? 

Thank you for visiting and sharing experiences.

Jim Winarski

April 2, 2012