Book Review: Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous to Your Mental Health, William Glasser, 2003[1]
By: Timothy D. Evans, Ph.D., and Cameron Meredith, Ph.D.
As a follow-up of his 1965 classic book, Reality Therapy and his 1965 classic book, Reality Therapy and his 1998 psychologically sound, Choice Theory, Dr. William Glasser’s 2003 provocative insightful book, Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous to Your Mental Health, could be the most important mental health book ever written. It is a must-read for anyone involved in the mental health system or concerned with the mental health of a child, teen, or adult in the family.
Dr. Glasser presents proof that there is nothing wrong with your brain and there is no pill for the happiness you need. He refers to the DSM-IV manual as the red book of unhappiness rather than mental illness. He contents that there is no pathology for the assumption of an imbalance of brain chemistry thus no justification for drug therapy. Instead, people need talk therapy based on choice theory to improve relations with others.
This is good news for Adlerians who believe that there are no bad (ADD for example) children, just discouraged children. Adlerians also believe in helping people become healthier rather than curing illness. Rather than drugs, people need encouragement and the opportunity to develop social interest, the feeling that they belong, have a place and count.
Obtain a copy of this book ASAP and spread the word. Start some focus groups. It may mean our very survival as democratic free, creative, happy, encouraged and healthy social beings.
