According to conventional histories of psychiatry, the arrival of chlorpromazine in asylum medicine in the 1950s made it possible to empty mental hospitals in the United States and the rest of the Western World. This drug is said to have kicked off a “psychopharmacological revolution.” Yet, even as this revolution has unfolded, the burden of mental illness in the United States and the rest of the developed world has steadily risen. Outcomes for depression and other affective disorders have worsened during the past 40 years, and there is evidence that employment rates for people diagnosed with schizophrenia have markedly dropped since 1955. In the United States, the number of adults on government disability due to psychiatric disorders tripled from 1987 to 2007, rising from 1.25 million to more than 4 million. Similar increases in disability have occurred in Iceland, the U.K, and other Western nations. A review of history, science, and the outcomes literature can help us understand this seeming paradox, in which a “revolution” in treatment has been accompanied by a rising epidemic of disabling mental illness.

Robert Whitaker is the author of four books, two of which tell of the history of psychiatry. His first, Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill was named by Discover magazine as one of the best science books of 2002, while the American Library Association named it one of the best history books of that year. His newest book, Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, investigates the astonishing rise in the number of disabled mentally ill in the United States. Prior to writing books, Robert Whitaker worked as the science and medical reporter at the Albany Times Union newspaper in New York for a number of years. His journalism articles won several national awards, including a George Polk award for medical writing, and a National Association of Science Writers’ award for best magazine article. A series he co-wrote for The Boston Globe was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.

Admission is free and all are welcome.

<<Previous ItemNext Item>>

« Back to 2011 Press Releases