> but other than that, since I've never personally experienced clinical
> depression (though Google knows that by all rights I should have been
> declared depressed at some point!), I've always just read what people had to
> say and assumed they knew best. If they feel they were depressed and it was
> a chemical imbalance, then that was the way it was. What did I know! But now
> I'm reading this book and wondering about the degree to which the
> pharmaceutical industry and physicians have pushed certain diagnoses on
> people, regardless as to any evidence supporting the diagnosis -- and to an
> unfortunate result as some folks have taken medicines that are useless or,
> worse, cause more symptoms that are then treated with more drugs. Or even
> worse, given drugs that injure or kill them.
Those views often get presented as being in opposition. They're not.
I doubt any regulars here would question that Big Pharma's financial mass warps the space in medicine, pushing drugs and other treatments in ways that work against a patient's interests. So, as Chuck Grimes suggests, you have to be careful. A good psychiatrist will ask questions like that, how you're eating and sleeping, what you're eating, living conditions, all with that therapist's cool gaze, and at least with depression probably suggest some couch time. That's the standard recommended treatment among caregivers: meds *plus* talk therapy. It's also recognized that some meds will either be ineffective or have intolerable side effects, which is why the standard approach is to try different kinds of drugs in succession. This is standard practice, as I understand it. It's also why some people need a particular drug which might not be available as a generic, even while other similar cheaper ones are available.
Needless to say that all doesn't fit well with the priorities of our current medical insurance system.
I'm not familiar with the book you mention, so I can't talk about it specifically. I will say that anti-psychiatry positions I've seen have a knack for overreach.
-- Andy