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A review by seeyf
This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health by Nathan Filer
4.0
Filer was a mental health nurse in his earlier career, and he begins the book by vividly recounting the first time he forcibly medicated a person against his will. This sets the course for a book about how medication and the biological-based model of schizophrenia is flawed and harmful to many patients compared to other alternatives such as cognitive behavioural therapy (though Filer also agrees they are useful for some patients).
This is an argument also made by Robert Whitaker in his books Anatomy of an Epidemic and Mad in America. While Whitaker dwells more in the history of how modern psychiatry came to be (and thus exposing the many injustices it has waged over the past century or so) and is more critical of it, Filer focuses on its current state in the UK and the US. He also augments his narrative with anecdotes from mental health patients he has interviewed who give varying perspectives on the usefulness of treatment and how society might better support them. These add a human touch and make the topics he covers more relatable.
Overall, this is a good introduction to the many issues surrounding mental health, and perhaps an eye-opener to readers unfamiliar with the subject. The underlying theme is that mental illnesses should always be seen in a wider context that includes social inequality (poverty is the strongest predictor of schizophrenia), discrimination of marginalised groups (homosexuality and drapetomania - the desire of a slave to free captivity - were once categorised as mental disorders), diverging incentives between patients and the medical-industrial complex (drugs marketed as anti-psychotic but only serve to suppress mental activity temporarily to facilitate quicker discharge of patients) and many others. My only criticism is that I was hoping to learn more after having read Whitaker’s books, but Filer mostly covers similar ground, albeit in a friendlier and more personal manner.
This is an argument also made by Robert Whitaker in his books Anatomy of an Epidemic and Mad in America. While Whitaker dwells more in the history of how modern psychiatry came to be (and thus exposing the many injustices it has waged over the past century or so) and is more critical of it, Filer focuses on its current state in the UK and the US. He also augments his narrative with anecdotes from mental health patients he has interviewed who give varying perspectives on the usefulness of treatment and how society might better support them. These add a human touch and make the topics he covers more relatable.
Overall, this is a good introduction to the many issues surrounding mental health, and perhaps an eye-opener to readers unfamiliar with the subject. The underlying theme is that mental illnesses should always be seen in a wider context that includes social inequality (poverty is the strongest predictor of schizophrenia), discrimination of marginalised groups (homosexuality and drapetomania - the desire of a slave to free captivity - were once categorised as mental disorders), diverging incentives between patients and the medical-industrial complex (drugs marketed as anti-psychotic but only serve to suppress mental activity temporarily to facilitate quicker discharge of patients) and many others. My only criticism is that I was hoping to learn more after having read Whitaker’s books, but Filer mostly covers similar ground, albeit in a friendlier and more personal manner.