Blaming the Brain - by Elliot S Valenstein (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Part history, part science, part expose, and part solution, Blaming the Brain sounds a clarion call throughout our culture of quick-fix pharmacology and our increasing reliance on drugs as a cure-all for mental illness.

This brilliant, provocative book will force patients, practitioners, and prescribers alike to rethink the causes of mental illness and the methods by which we treat it.

Review Quotes

Andrew Herxheimer "Emberitus Fellow, United Kingdom Cochrane Centre This book does something long overdue: It puts psychotropic drugs into historical and scientific perspective without being too technical. It should help prescribers and patients work together and use these drugs more carefully.

David Healy, M.D., Ph.D. "Author of "The Antidepressant Era" Valenstein shows how the current theories of depression and schizophrenia arose, makes the case for them seem more persuasive than their original proponents did, but then in devastating fashion shows where their problems lie. More importantly, he goes on to show why we continue to hold such beliefs that do no good for patients, that are no longer believed by neuroscientists and that hamper the development of more effective treatments...

Jerome Kagan, Ph.D. "Author of "Nature of the Child" and Professor of Psychology, Harvard University Once again, Elliot Valenstein challenges contemporary dogma -- this time by combining a lively, informative history of the growth of psychopharmacology with a critique of its deepest assumptions. The controversy this book will surely provoke reflects the significance of its arguments. Those who are friendly to or suspicious of the claim that all mental illness is primarily a biochemical disorder will profit from this bold, clearly written book.

Joseph LeDoux, Ph.D. "Author of "The Emotional Brain" Valenstein swings a heavy bat at the conceptual basis of biological psychiatry. The book will surely shock psychiatric patients and will lead to soul searching amongst psychiatrists. Biological psychiatry will come out of the controversy that's sure to emerge either badly wounded or much stronger, but will never be the same.

Michael S. Gazziniga, Ph.D. "Director, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College Elliot Valenstein has provided us with a fast-moving and eye-opening account of why the brain story is but a part of the puzzle of mental illness. He has to be right.

About the Author

Elliot S. Valenstein is Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan and the author of Blaming the Brain: The Truth about Drugs and Mental Health and Great and Desperate Cures.