Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill

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Hot on the heels of an optimistic film about Nobelist John Nash's schizophrenic journey comes medical journalist Robert Whitaker's disturbing exposé of the cruel and corrupt business of treating mental illness in America. Mad in America begins by surveying three centuries of mental health treatments to discover why positive outcomes for schizophrenics in the U.S. for the last 25 years have decreased--making them lower than those in developing countries. Whitaker asks, "Why should living in a country with such rich resources and advanced medical treatments for disorders of every kind, be so toxic to those who are severely mentally ill?"

One of Whitaker's answers draws upon the historic and current assumptions of a physical cause for schizophrenia. This resulted in cruel and unusual physical treatments--from ice-water immersion and bloodletting to the more contemporary electroshock, lobotomy, and drug therapies with dangerous side effects. This physical cause model leads to Whitaker's more provocative explanation: that mental illness has become a profit center. He offers disturbing details about how good business for drug companies makes for bad medicine in treating schizophrenia. From drug companies skewing their studies and patient/subjects kept in the dark about experiments to the cozy relationship between the American Psychiatric Association and drug companies, Whitaker underlines the mistreatment of the mentally ill. This courageous and compelling book succeeds as both a history of our attitudes toward mental illness and a manifesto for changing them. --Barbara Mackoff

Book Description

A riveting social and medical history of madness in America, from the 17th century to today.

In Mad in America, medical journalist Robert Whitaker reveals an astounding truth: Schizophrenics in the United States fare worse than those in poor countries, and quite possibly worse than asylum patients did in the early nineteenth century. Indeed, Whitaker argues, modern treatments for the severely mentally ill are just old medicine in new bottles and we as a society are deluded about their efficacy. Tracing over three centuries of "cures" for madness, Whitaker shows how medical therapies-from "spinning" or "chilling" patients in colonial times to more modern methods of electroshock, lobotomy, and drugs-have been used to silence patients and dull their minds, deepening their suffering and impairing their hope of recovery. Based on exhaustive research culled from old patient medical records, historical accounts, and government documents, this haunting book raises important questions about our obligations to the mad, what it means to be "insane," and what we value most about the human mind.

Customer Reviews:

"Mad in America" by Robert Whitaker.......2007-09-30

"Mad in America" is a book that should be read by all mental health providers. It chronicles the history of the treatment of mental illness for the last 100 years. It details the period in the early 1800s called "Moral Treatment" when patients were treated with compassion and respect, and, for the most part, recovered. However, neuroleptics intervented, and we now have a much poorer outcome for such serious mental illnesses as schizophrenia. Actually, Third World countries, where neuroleptics are used less frequently have a better outcome.

Soteria House in California in the 70s and 80s implemented this 'moral treatment' and had wonderful results as Mr. Whitaker points out. However, funding ran out. (Pharmaceutical companies, of course, would not sponsor such a concept.) However, there is a Soteria-Alaska soon to open in Anchorage (early 2008) that replicates Loren Mosher's Soteria House in California. It behooves anyone interested in the treatment of mental illness (and that should encompass most of America) to not only learn about Soteria-Alaska, but to do their part to help it succeed.

Read this book!

M. Weiss

Wish some reviewers would read more carefully.......2007-09-14

I'm amazed at the reviews here that have the book saying things it flat-out doesn't say: that "mental illnesses are not diseases," "mental disorders are not biological in nature," "we are no better off in understanding and treating mental illness than we were in the 1700s" and "the book offers no alternatives" to psychopharmaceutical drugs with poor track records and destructive side effects. Actually it's very pointed about the most effective known alternative: provide for the patient an environment of safety, caring, respect and simple day-to-day structure and let the brain's natural healing process do the rest.

That we haven't been doing this all along can be attributed to the enormous stigma attached to mental illness in this culture, which is something I wish the book had said more about. Few schizophrenics are dangerous, but because of our attitude of horror and disgust, people who can treat them with caring and respect are hard to find. Also barely mentioned is the abuse of the mental health system by families wanting to get rid of socially nonconforming relatives. It's only been ten years since teenage boys and even men in their twenties were being locked in the bin for "gender-inappropriate behavior" in the South and only fifty since white middle-class girls were getting sent there for showing romantic and/or sexual interest in men of color.

There are also reviews urging readers to look to mainstream scientific literature for the truth when the book's point is that the research done in this field is corrupted from top to bottom, not only by pharmaceutical money but by the desire of mental health professionals to be seen (and to see themselves) as scientific and medical rather than as what they are: a profession of janitors assigned to sweep out of sight those people we find disruptively messy. This accusation may be true or false - I'm certainly in no position to plunge into the raw source material and find the truth - but to ignore it is to misrepresent the book.

Now I'm Mad!.......2007-04-27

"Mad in America" is a riveting read. Whitaker has put together a comprehensive, insightful history of the "treatments" that have been wrought upon the mentally ill. My attitude towards medicine and science has been forever changed as as consequence of reading this book. Read it. It will open your mind.

Read this book and share it with someone.......2007-02-13

This book will shock the sensibilities of those whose knowledge of mental illness has been constrained by media sound bites, folk wisdom, and the rhetoric of many "experts" in the field.

Whitaker first gives a concise history of mental illness, it's social context, and treatment paradigms over the past 150 years. This portion of the book is not just a collection of dry facts, anecdotes, and horror stories.

Somewhere towards the end of the book the reader will realize what is being done today is in fact a continuation of what has been done in the past. Certainly newer technology plays a role, but basically it's still "same old-same old".

It is well to revisit history. There is a close parallel between the somewhat bizarre treatments of the late nineteenth century and what is being done pharmaceutically today. The reader may be astounded to discover the oldtimers had far better outcomes than we have in the modern world.

Equally astounding to some readers might be the question of recovery. Can a person recover completely from such a dire diagnosis as schizophrenia? Haven't the "experts" told us for years such a thing is impossible?

Well, the "experts" are wrong. The World Health Organization conducted massive long-term studies comparing outcomes of third world countries such as India with that of the developed countries. It turns out one would have a far better chance
of recovering fully and leading a normal life on the streets of New Delhi than on the streets of Scarsdale, NY. Far better.

Now here is the key question. Are these nations doing something right, or have we done something horribly wrong? The reader must make up his own mind on this.

This book is not just a "keeper". It is a book to read, reread, and shared with someone who needs it's powerful message.

Vince Boehm, Wilmington, DE

If the author only knew what it means to have a sick family member.......2006-09-21

As a psychiatrist and person with mentally ill family members, I can only bemoan all of the misinformation contained in this book. The truth is that many of the mentally ill in America do not get the treatment they need precisely because they believe the things said in this book, on tv, etc. As someone who has lived outside of the US and in the developing world, I can tell you that their mental health treatment pales compared to what is available in the United States and is much more primitive and coercive. Although it is true that many psychiatric medications have serious side effects, the consequences of living with symptoms of a serious mental illness can only convince you of how devastating that can be to both the ill person and his or her family. Furthermore, as someone who is also experienced in administering ECT, I can personally attest to the wonderful success rate of this treatment for persons with severe depression who have failed all alternatives and who would rather be dead than live out their lives. (And many, unfortunately, do decide on death as a last resort).

As far as lobotomies, ice baths, and forced stays in hospitals or other facilities, these are things of the past in the United States. In fact, one of the biggest problems I face in my practice is the extreme difficulty I have in placing someone in the hospital when they actually need a brief stay (typical stays are 5-7 days) because of a lack of psychiatric beds ( more than 90% of psychiatric beds were eliminated from American hospitals in the last 15 years as a cost-cutting measure). The other problems faced by modern psychiatry still includes stigmatisation of the mentally ill and then all the more mundane issues such as needs for help with housing, employment, and job development. But I bet you wouldn't find the author writing a book about that.

Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat

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Wonderful Book!
very interesting and educational
THE book for vegetarians to argue their case
A must read for anyone thinking about vegan/vegetarianism
An interesting perspective

Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat
Howard F. Lyman , and Glen Merzer
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0684845164

Book Description

Lyman is well aware of what goes into our livestock -- high doses of pesticides, growth hormone, and the ground-up remains of other animals. A fourth-generation Montana farmer, he regularly doused his cattle and soil with chemicals. It was only when he narrowly escaped paralysis from a spinal tumor that Lyman began to question his vocation and the effect it was having on people and on the land he loved. The questions he raised and the answers he found led him, surprisingly, to adopt a vegetarian diet. As a result, he lost 130 pounds and lowered his cholesterol by more than 150 points. He is now one of America's leading spokesmen for vegetarianism.

Along the way, Lyman learned even more about the alarming dangers associated with eating meat. Here he blasts through the propaganda of the beef and dairy industries (and the government agencies that often protect them) and exposes an animal-based diet as the primary cause of cancer, heart disease, and obesity in this country. In a powerful and original voice, he warns that our livestock industry has repeated the mistakes that led to Mad Cow Disease in England while it simultaneously visits frightful, lasting damage on our environment.

Persuasive, straightforward, and full of the down-home good humor and optimism of a son of the soil, Mad Cowboy is both an inspirational story of personal transformation and a convincing call to action for a plant-based diet -- for the good of the planet and the health of us all.

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When former cattle rancher Howard Lyman appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996 to share his insider view of the danger of Mad Cow Disease spreading to this country, his revelations about the beef industry prompted a group of Texas cattlemen to file a lawsuit charging Lyman and the talk show host with "food disparagement". That wasn't enough to silence Howard Lyman, and in this stirring account of his journey from meat-loving cowboy to vegetarian environmental activist, he tells the whole truth about the catastrophic consequences of an animal-based diet. Lyman is well aware of what goes into our livestock-- high doses of pesticides, growth hormone, and the ground-up remains of other animals. A fourth-generation Montana farmer, he regularly doused his cattle and soil with chemicals. It was only when he narrowly escaped paralysis from a spinal tumor that Lyman began to question his vocation and the effect it was having on people and on the land he loved. The questions he raised and the answers he found led him, surprisingly, to adopt a vegetarian diet. As a result, he lost 130 pounds and lowered his cholesterol by more than 150 points. He is now one of America's leading spokesmen for vegetarianism. Along the way, Lyman learned even more about the alarming dangers associated with eating meat. Here he blasts through the propaganda of the beef and dairy industries (and the government agencies that often protect them) and exposes an animal-based diet as the primary cause of cancer, heart disease, and obesity in this country. In a powerful and original voice, he warns that our livestock industry has repeated the mistakes that led to Mad Cow Disease in England while it simultaneously visits frightful, lasting damage on our environment. Persuasive, straightforward, and full of the down-home good humor and optimism of a son of the soil, "Mad Cowboy" is both an inspirational story of personal transformation and a convincing call to action for a plant-based diet.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Book!.......2007-08-13

Don't read it unless you're ready to give up eating animals! It's an easy to read, informative look at the dark side of the meat eating US culture and the effects upon our bodies as well as the environment. I would highly recommend it for anyone who is already vegetarian or thinking about becoming one, or for anyone concerned about our environment.

very interesting and educational.......2007-06-28

While overly emotional and more than a little biased at times, I found this book a very interesting read. It makes you look differently at the environmental and sociological as well as medical impact of our society's increasing use of beef. I think this book has a lot of information that people should be told, but that doesn't make it into most mass-media

THE book for vegetarians to argue their case.......2007-06-19

Vegetarians I encounter are of two types. Cultural Veggies like me who grew up in vegetarian households. Then Veggies by choice, who deserve greater respect for following their convictions. Howard Lyman deserves the highest respect for his Ashoka (famous Indian Emperor who renounced Violence) like transformation to the vegetarian cause from being a cattle rancher.
Vegetarians often get queried about their reason behind being one. As Howard points out, there are three ways to go about explaining it. Moral reason, Self/Health Reason and lastly Ecological/Environmental reason. Howard realising that moral reasoning is the most vulnerable one, not easily defendable, ignores it and goes about brilliantly presenting how meat eating habits in America has led to deterioration in health and devastation of the environment, backing up with first-hand experiences and scientific references.

Personally I feel it is not just the meat-eaters who may have to make hard choices. Meat-Eaters may argue that Rice cultivation is also a major cause of Methane (Global Warming) gas and creates strain on resources in terms of land/water. One can argue that the Chinese and Indian demand for Rice may create severe problems in future. But it is hard to deny the Author's assertion: meat-eating diet and hence cattle ranching's negative effects are multi-fold, in terms of health, spread of pandemics, environmental , depriving land of nutrients and are of much more severe and immediate concern to us.

A must read for anyone thinking about vegan/vegetarianism.......2007-04-28

This book belongs on every animal lover's shelf - a must read, that very easily could make the difference between a hesitant omnivore, and a full fledged veggie!

An interesting perspective.......2007-04-14

Who wouldn't be curious to read about a former cattle rancher turned vegan?

By the time I read this book, I had already done quite a bit of reading on ve getarianism and its impacts on health, animals and the environment. So while I was already familiar with much of the general content of the book, Mr. Lyman's story was a very interesting and fun read.

Mad Bear: Spirit, Healing, and the Sacred in the Life of a Native American Medicine Man

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Tuscarora dreaming
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Mad Bear: Spirit, Healing, and the Sacred in the Life of a Native American Medicine Man
Doug Boyd
Manufacturer: Touchstone
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0671759450

Book Description

Mad Bear was a member of the Bear Clan of the Tuscarora Nation of the Six-Nation Iroquois Confederacy of the United States and Canada. A Native American rights-activist, he was also a medicine man and a leader with great power and influence both among his own people and cross culturally. In this personal and captivating narrative, Doug Boyd recreates Mad Bear's tales of magic, his healing powers, and Native American legends. Mad Bear creates a rich and colorful portrait of the fascinating life of this vibrant, spiritual man.

Customer Reviews:

Tuscarora dreaming.......2004-11-02

This book follows Boyd after his meeting the eclectic Tuscarora medicine man and documents their travels across the country, with the aim of promoting inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. It is written well; Boyd managed to captureMad Bear's culinary and other idiosyncrasies in a way which is genuinely funny and, at the same time, filled with valuable information about modern native medicine. With native Americans information rarely comes in an explicit way; likewise, the most valuable stuff in the book is hidden between the lines: the Tuscarora/Iroquois dreaming practices, the practices used to take care of and obtain feedback from nature and the commitment to working together with spiritually aware people from all over the planet.

The Native Americans understand (suggests the book) that these are important times when teachings have to percolate from their keepers to a wider, global audience, that we have to work together to neutralize the forces of chaos and greed that are destroying the fabric of life on this planet and that life can be an amazing and mysterious adventure if one allows it to manifest itself through us. These things are brought forth in an easy conversational style, especially in the first half; the second has to do more with specifics of Boyd's own participation in inter-Indian dialogue etc which I did not find as gripping. Still, this is a valuable book and if you want to learn how to speak (and keep your mouth shut) with the Indians, you will found it useful.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough........1999-11-08

Doug Boyd again, as in "Rolling Thunder", has shown us the everyday life of a remarkable man. Thank you Doug for reminding us how it is possible to live the sacred path with gusto. Since we are not all able to sit at Mad Bear's knee to learn his great wisdom, Doug shows us that the traditions still exist and are practiced. This is a book that should be read by everyone.

Dying for a Hamburger: Modern Meat Processing and the Epidemic of Alzheimer's Disease

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Dying for a Hamburger: Modern Meat Processing and the Epidemic of Alzheimer's Disease
Murray Waldman , and Marjorie Lamb
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 031234015X
Release Date: 2005-06-30

Book Description

One in ten people older than sixty-five, and nearly half of those older than eighty-five, have Alzheimer's disease.

It's widely accepted nowadays that memory loss comes with age. Alzheimer's currently robs at least 15 million people of their identity worldwide. This book makes the controversial claim that eating meat may contribute to the development of the disease.

In Dying for a Hamburger, Dr. Murray Waldman and Marjorie Lamb draw upon documentary evidence, historical testimony, and inspired speculation to suggest that Alzheimer's:

- is a new disease--elderly people did not experience symptoms of dementia in such alarming numbers in the past

- began appearing after modern meat production techniques were introduced

- has soared in nations where these techniques are used

- hardly exists in cultures where meat consumption is low

- has been attributed to many deaths that are actually the human equivalent of mad cow disease.

They present startling evidence that Alzheimer's may be part of a family of diseases linked to malformed proteins known as prions. They hypothesize that the conditions that allow these brain disorders to be triggered are similar. They propose that mad cow, its human equivalent, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), other encephalitic diseases, and Alzheimer's may have a common antecedent.

We know that a form of CJD is transmitted to humans who eat contaminated beef. And we are becoming increasingly aware of the need to monitor the meat supply closely to avoid a repetition of the mad cow scare in Great Britain. But suppose that Alzheimer's also involves prions--the evidence that points in this direction is growing. And suppose that Alzheiemer's is also associated with tainted meat.

This conclusion seems far-fetched--at first. In this compelling book, the authors come to a frightening conclusion about our seemingly insatiable hunger for hamburgers. Destined to provoke heated argument, this book is definitely food for thought.

When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust (Contemporary Issues in Biomedicine, Ethics, and Society)

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Necessary and disturbing read on use of Nazi data...

When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust (Contemporary Issues in Biomedicine, Ethics, and Society)
Arthur L. Caplan
Manufacturer: Humana Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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In When Medicine Went Mad, one of the nation's leading bioethicists-and an extraordinary panel of experts and concentration camp survivors-examine problems first raised by Nazi medical experimentation that remain difficult and relevant even today. The importance of these issues to contemporary bioethical disputes-particularly in the thorny areas of medical genetics, human experimentation, and euthanasia-are explored in detail and with sensitivity.

Customer Reviews:

Necessary and disturbing read on use of Nazi data..........2004-02-06

Arthur Caplan, who is one of the U.S. major leaders in the bioethics movement, compiled this book demonstrating not only the real use of bioethics in determining the right and wrong of scientific endeavor, but also exposing the fact that in spite of all the knowledge the world has gained from the Nazi atrocities and other questionable experimental science, there are still those who would not only use the data from these sources...but would also excuse some of people who committed these horrors in the name of science.

It was to my surprise that I found this book, and later decided to buy it through Amazon. This book came about by researchers who were attempting to use and excuse the data obtained through one particularly horrific experiment done by the Nazis. There was concern that German aviators would suffer from exposure upon leaving aircraft that had been damaged in dogfights with planes from the Allies. This gave scientists the excuse to use political prisoners, captured soldiers, and Jewish prisoners as subjects in their experiments. They would dress the men as aviators would be dress and expose them to frigid water and lack of oxygen (as would be experienced by aviators at high altitudes). They would try varieties of means of re-warming these men, including absolutely ludicrous ideas that are revolting now in their simplicity and immorality...which I have no intention of discussing here. I don't know what is more amazing...that these men felt they were doing no wrong, or that some of our scientists would continue to advocate the use of the data obtained from these experiments. At least Mengele and the men behind his atrocious twins experiments had the presence of mind to know what they were doing would not be looked upon kindly. Not only did they destroy their work before the Allies could find it, but Mengele disappeared into the South American continent. The men who worked on these exposure experiments left around not only their very bad data, but pictures of themselves standing there as they slowly killed men by exposure.

In 1991, a conference was held to discuss the ethical use of such experiments. Should it be used? Why, or why not? Would use of this type of scientific information constitute an insult to the dead and living survivors of these experiments, or would putting that information gained to use make their unwilling cooperation in these experiments as not having been done in vain? Or did this type of experiment, and those done at Tuskagee, and those done at Willowbrook, merely continue to advocate the use of those considered inferior, or captive populations, by scientists as morally acceptable because the needs of `society' (as described by scientists and medical researchers) as more important than the needs of individuals? Sound familiar? It should...this question has never been morally answered and now, it is the corporations who put vulnerable populations at risk. Only their excuse is the bottom line, and profits.

Caplan collected a series of essays by those who were the victims of these and other experiments of the Nazi era. There is also input from those who would use this information in references, in their own work. There is input from bioethicists on both sides of the equation, and some input from notable American theologians. So it would seem this is an unbiased look into this question of when and who decides other human beings are of individual worth or are only of use to society as a whole. What is a bit perplexing to me is that the question needs to be asked, fifty years after the Holocaust, and thirty years after the explosive exposure of American experimental atrocities by Henry Beecher in 1966.

And yet it does...and yes we do need to teach these things to the new scientists and new medical researchers, and those who would do business by pushing the moral envelope just a bit farther in the name of profit. With genetics and politics combining to form a new type of eugenics, with stem cell research, the increasing need for organ transplants, emerging diseases, and allocation of limited health care...this book should be part of the required list of those in all these areas as well as in bioethics.

As theologian Neuhaus says in his chapter, "This meeting would be a failure if we were not made to feel uncomfortable." This book should make all of us feel uncomfortable. Maybe if we all were uncomfortable, the slippery slope to another medical and scientific "Holocaust" could be avoided.

Customer Reviews:

Frivolous title; scholarly data.......2003-04-20

The piece de resistance of this book has to be the theological memorandum concerning the mental condition of the Duke of Prussia which begins with the unfortunate Osiandrian sympathies displayed by his parents prior to his birth and their possible contribution to the current situation. The majority of the recommendations, however, came from physicians and were medical rather than theological.

It's solidly researched -- if anything, one would have wished more detail on some of the episodes, such as that of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar in the bath house.

A detailed book about an hitherto unexplored subject.......2000-12-10

This is the book that inspired me for starting my Mad Monarchs Series (http://www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/madmon.htm)! Before I found this book, I had often seen references to "the last mad Duke of Cleves, married to a sister of the last mad Duke of Prussia". This book has finally shed some light on that odd pair of Dukes.

The first part of the book focuses on the early 16th century, when mental problems was not regarded as an illness and melancholic Princes were locked up and often neglected. Sometimes they were exorcised. The cases described are, among others, Princes of Hesse, Saxony and Baden. William the Younger of Brunswick is the 1st Prince whose mental state is described in more detail, because unique reports have survived: "He ran out into the streets of Celle half-dressed, [..] spoke unintelligibly and gestured weirdly". He was actually treated by doctors.

The second part of the book describes Albrecht Friedrich of Prussia, Rudolf II of Austria and the last Dukes of Cleves in more detail. Midelfort describes detailed accounts of their mental and medical conditions and the doctor's crude attempts to cure them.

The book is a serious and detailed study of 16th century Princes that were described by their contemporaries as "melancholic" or locked up as being "mad". Black and white images of most of the described mad Princes and Princesses are included. An unique book about an unique subject!

Unusual and thought-provoking.......2000-05-13

Although the title initially almost seems like a parody of historical research on incredibly arcane topics (and, as Midelfort points out, there is no particular reasons to believe that Renaissance German royalty were more prone to insanity than anyone else, inbreeding not withstanding), the book in fact uses the unusually high levels of documentation available on these individuals to create a fascinating and detailed study, not only of the medical and religious treatment of insanity during this period, but also of the political implications when a monarch or his heir became "unfit" to rule.

Garbage.......1999-10-15

Designed to appeal to a wide range of individuals and schools of thought, this book reaches nobody. Midelfort throws a collective bone to feminists, microhistorians, historians of science, etc. but his demonstrates an inability to understand their theoretical underpinnings that borders on disdain and condescension. While working with impressive archival materials, this book seems like the product of market research--all flash and consumer demographics, absolutely nothing of substance, interest or importance. A failure in all respects.

Mad Cows and Cannibals: A Guide to the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies

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Mad Cows and Cannibals: A Guide to the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies
Charlotte A. Spencer
Manufacturer: Benjamin Cummings
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0131423398

Book Description

Mad Cows and Cannibals guides readers through the complex world of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs)—bizarre, degenerative brain diseases that affect both animals and humans. In clear and accessible language, it provides basic explanations of the science and issues surrounding Mad Cow Disease and related conditions. It begins with stories of ritualistic cannibalism in the highlands of New Guinea, and leads to the modern agricultural feeding practices that triggered the Mad Cow Disease epidemic in Great Britain, and to recent outbreaks of Chronic Wasting Disease in North America. It explains the biology of TSEs and explores how political and social actions can contribute to their spread, answering important questions about how TSEs affect the safety of our food supply, blood supply, and medical procedures. This book will be of interest to the general public and the media, as it provides basic explanations of the science and issues surrounding TSEs. Also useful as a reference work for those in health care, medical-legal professions, and genetics industry.

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Mad Cow Disease: Are We Safe

Manufacturer: Nova Science Publishers
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1594540373

Madmen: A Social History of Madhouses Mad Doctors and Lunatics (Revealing History)

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Madmen: A Social History of Madhouses Mad Doctors and Lunatics (Revealing History)
Roy Porter
Manufacturer: Tempus Publishing, Limited
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0752437305

Book Description

What was it like to be insane in the Georgian England of Mary Wollstonecraft and Coleridge? Indeed, how was the most famous mad person of the century—Shelley’s “old, mad, blind, despised king” George III—treated before his final descent into insanity in 1808? The best-selling popular historian, Roy Porter, looks at the bizarre and savage practices used by doctors for treating those afflicted by manias, ranging from huge doses of opium, blood-letting, and cold water immersion to beatings, confinement in cages, and blistering. The author also reveals how Bethlem—the London asylum created to care for the mentally sick of the capital—was riddled with sadism and embezzlement, and if that wasn’t dehumanizing enough, ogling sightseers were permitted entry—for a fee of course.

Undertaker of the Mind: John Monro and Mad-Doctoring in Eighteenth-Century England (Medicine and Society)

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Very Well Done!
Mad-doctoring Monro
Wall Street Journal Review

Undertaker of the Mind: John Monro and Mad-Doctoring in Eighteenth-Century England (Medicine and Society)
Jonathan Andrews , and Andrew Scull
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0520231511

Book Description

As visiting physician to Bethlem Hospital, the archetypal "Bedlam" and Britain's first and (for hundreds of years) only public institution for the insane, Dr. John Monro (1715-1791) was a celebrity in his own day. Jonathan Andrews and Andrew Scull call him a "connoisseur of insanity, this high priest of the trade in lunacy." Although the basics of his life and career are well known, this study is the first to explore in depth Monro's colorful and contentious milieu. Mad-doctoring grew into a recognized, if not entirely respectable, profession during the eighteenth century, and besides being affiliated with public hospitals, Monro and other mad-doctors became entrepreneurs and owners of private madhouses and were consulted by the rich and famous.
Monro's close social connections with members of the aristocracy and gentry, as well as with medical professionals, politicians, and divines, guaranteed him a significant place in the social, political, cultural, and intellectual worlds of his time. Andrews and Scull draw on an astonishing array of visual materials and verbal sources that include the diaries, family papers, and correspondence of some of England's wealthiest and best-connected citizens. The book is also distinctive in the coverage it affords to individual case histories of Monro's patients, including such prominent contemporary figures as the Earls Ferrers and Orford, the religious "enthusiast" Alexander Cruden, and the "mad" King George III, as well as his crazy would-be assassin, Margaret Nicholson.
What the authors make clear is that Monro, a serious physician neither reactionary nor enlightened in his methods, was the outright epitome of the mad-trade as it existed then, esteemed in some quarters and ridiculed in others. The fifty illustrations, expertly annotated and integrated with the text, will be a revelation to many readers.

Customer Reviews:

Very Well Done!.......2005-05-19

Though it starts off slow, by Chapter 2 the enthralling story of John Monroe, one of several Monroes to be primary physician at Bethlem hospital in London, England, begins to unfold. This man spent four decades in his position at "Bedlam" which is likely why he is the one to be featured - as opposed to his father James, who held the position before him and his son Thomas, who came afterwards.

Though I was aware that John Monroe has somewhat of a bad reputation in our day and age, largely because of his work in mad-doctoring and that Bethlem hospital is associated with great horror and scandal.. I didn't reach that conclusion from this book. There was evidence of mistreatment and false confinement and a lack of much help beyond custodial-type care - it seemed more a symptom of the ages rather then an intentional practice.

It was obvious, however, that a motivating factor for people to become engaged in the business of lunacy by owning and operating madhouses (often without any credentials or experience) and catering to those pronounced mad was the profit to made from such. Though mad-doctors, it is said, were not well respected in the 17-18-19th centuries, John Monroe and others seemed to have reached quite a great height in their social status.

What I found most fascinating was the many stories of those deemed mad - most especially the story of "Mad Meg" near the end of the book. Along with these stories there is a great deal of pictures in the book with excellent descriptions by the authors. It is very clear from reading that the two authors know their subject well and have done a great deal of research. I was familiar with Skull's work prior to this reading but had not had the pleasure of reading Andrews. Both authors have several other titles on the subject that I have since picked up and look forward to reading.

The book ends abruptly with the death of John Monroe. I would have liked to hear about what happened with Thomas Monroe when he took over "the business" much like we were able to read about James Monroe's work. But, the book is about John Monroe so I suppose it makes sense to concentrate largely on his work and I believe the others are likely written about in greater detail in the other books available by these authors.

The book was a joy to read, I think you will enjoy it!

Mad-doctoring Monro.......2004-06-22

Monro's life and career have been satisfactorily documented, however this book attempts to bring forward more detail and evermore facts, and as such is a worthy treatise. In our day of analysts and a theory for everything, it is almost impossible to understand that in the eighteenth century one might be forever locked away for such diagnoses as truculance and intractability. Besides the awful Bedlam most associated with this era, there were also private, rather more poshy institutes that catered to the rich and the famous, to which Monro also applied his 'mad-doctoring' skills. By means of his profession, Monro was privvy to the social world, and made acquaintance with the aristocracy and assorted politicians, would-bes, also-rans, and dignitaries. The authors utilise a huge base of extant materials to draw this portrait of a fascinating time in medical history. Especially noteworthy are the exceptional mentioned drawings, which alone are worth the price of the book.

Wall Street Journal Review.......2003-02-08

See the review of this book in the Wall Street Journal, Thursday, January 30, 2003.

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