Charles Barber begins his story, or rather his investigation into mental illness, by discussing his time working with mentally ill people in shelters for the homeless and at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Not only does Mr. Barber discuss the cases of some of those he helped, but readers quickly notice how much he focuses on what outsiders thought about the matter. For example, Barber says socialites attending parties in his native Connecticut never knew his work and didn't view him in the same way as doctors and lawyers. Then, Barber notes, a significant shift occurred where he and his work were the center of attention. Many stigmas were lessened, people no longer felt ashamed, personality defects became disorders, this therapeutic work foreign to many became national news. Barber explains the drug phenomenon, lack of stigma, and aggressive marketing campaigns to explain the sudden change among Americans. Barber clearly states that so many people turn to medication in the hope that it will improve their lives, while those with true clinical mental illnesses do not receive appropriate treatment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. Barber is completely thorough in his investigation of this issue. He cites scientific discoveries, testimonies of doctors and researchers, medical articles and journals, first-person statements of mentally ill people, and all this is well combined with his own personal experience. Barber uses primary sources, such as reviewing research and people's statements, while also providing us with secondary sources evaluating many of the topics he introduces, such as reviews and analyzes of studies and methods in psychology and psychiatry. Barber organizes the information he presents to us nicely. He begins with his own experience, then discusses the impact that big pharmaceutical companies have had. After that, Barber writes about real cases of mental illness that aren't highlighted by the media and discusses approaches to psychiatry that don't involve medications. His writing style is also an important element to discuss in his book. He writes in a very colloquial way to make sure everyone understands and it also gives a sense of conversation with the reader, which is always a great strategy. That being said, Barber also writes citing relevant scientific data and facts that more than adequately support his main claim. The only drawback, perhaps, is the inclusion of so much scientific data that people without a good enough understanding of biology and medicine may not fully perceive the effect of everything. what Barber is trying to tell. But it's also a great read for anyone interested in both the science and business of modern medicine. Patients put so much power in the hands of doctors and trust them completely, why wouldn't they? The answer, as Barber bluntly and shockingly admits, is that modern science has ultimately failed. When I think about it, we truly are in the dark ages of medicine. Indeed, it is currently impossible to design drugs for a specific purpose; instead, drugs are discovered by chance. Even new drugs purporting to treat mental illness are mere recreations ofpre-existing medications. Scientists are just beginning to study the brain and nervous system in comprehensible ways. There are 100 trillion connections in the brain and we still don't understand how entire regions of the brain work. For example, while drugs used in the United States appear to aim to increase the amount of serotonin in the brain, drugs derived from Europe decrease the amount of serotonin, and both classes of drugs have the same results. Surprisingly, this is not taken into account in our knowledge of the brain. So this is worth proposing, if we really don't understand these medications or their long term effects, while showing little data to ever make anyone better, then why are they being advertised so aggressively? Well, unsurprisingly, it’s because of corruption, bribery and cut-throat deals. The accusations of corruption and bribery are because pharmaceutical companies are actually funding the inspection of their drugs and these companies are funding the new headquarters of the Food and Drug Administration. Drugs are cleared until proven guilty, a completely absurd idea. Barber includes a quote from Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest: "Roosevelt would be sick to his stomach if he could see how Harvey Wiley's [first FDA commissioner] fierce tiger of an agency ] has become such a flexible kitty” (Barber 36). And for corporate business transactions, Barber reports that the ten largest pharmaceutical companies earned more than the other 490 companies in the Forbes 500 (Barber 22). This is an astonishing fact. These companies' products, like Prozac, are prescribed to millions of people, so it's no wonder they impose them so harshly on the general population. As Berber bluntly puts it, what better way to make more money than to create a larger pool of potential customers by targeting the perfectly healthy? One of the course topics analyzed in this book is the debate between mental illness and behavioral problems. Thomas Szasz argues that mental illness is not actually an illness, but rather a big myth passed on to the public. Barber would partly agree with this idea. For many people, especially those who can afford care and prescription medications, they do not need medication to treat them, but are seeking care for something that is wrong in their life. Barber says many people with social anxiety are simply shy, and people with depression simply aren't happy. In both cases, the vast majority of people do not meet the threshold necessary to receive a clinical diagnosis of disease. Since many mental illnesses are not concretely defined enough to be identified with 100% accuracy, these conditions may very well be non-existent for many people. As Barber says, “There is a catch-all term depression,” meaning there is a difference between depression and clinical (real, diagnosable) depression. And Szasz may be right, because pharmaceutical companies make big profits by “treating” these people. For the most part, I do indeed agree with Barber's assertions. For example, he says the stigma around mental illness is no longer as severe. People are free to discuss their lives and contact qualified doctors. For example, myself. I have, or at least believe I suffer from, social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. For my part, these are ?.