PSYCHIATRIC DRUGGING - 40 YEARS OF PSEUDO-SCIENCE, SELF-INTEREST, ANDINDIFFERENCE TO HARM

The ''modern'' era of psychiatric drug treatment began with the introd uction of chlorpromazine into the chaotic mental hospital setting in t he 1950s as a new psychotropic agent for controlling excitement, agita tion, and aggressivity. In that setting the urgency of management prob lems operated to shrink the complexity of the patient as a psyche-soci al being down to specific ''symptoms'' targeted for chemical subjugati on. From this beginning - a chemically produced quieting or ''tranquil ization'' - there emerged a revitalized psychiatric movement to expand the ''strictly medical'' understanding and treatment of psychological disturbance that acknowledges no limits. This state of affairs has ac hieved a position of dominance and respect in the mental health indust ry, based upon social forces operating within psychiatry as a professi on and outside of psychiatry in the larger political-economic realm. T he catastrophe of widespread and expanding medically-produced disease has failed to alarm psychiatry into taking stock of the determinants o f the catastrophe - indeed the existence and magnitude of the tragedy is barely recognized within psychiatry. This conclusion is illustrated by detailed examination of the psychopharmacologic agents alprazolam (Xanax) and fluoxetine (Prozac).