4. This leads to the debate about the actual relapse-preventive powers of meds. Here, there is debate because most of the trials are done on those who improved with meds and are then randomized to placebo or to continued treatment with meds. Here, "relapses" can be conflated with withdrawal.
3. Meanwhile, this has been acknowledged by parts of academic psychiatry. However, and this is the second important point Whitaker makes, this does not affect clinical practice where patients are put on meds forever.
1. Bob Whitaker makes 2 super important points at the end of this talk:
First, mainstream psychiatry conceptualized temporary acute mental states such as psychosis or mania into chronic conditions needing lifelong medication. While this is true for some, it is definately not true for many others
These guys are regularly inspecting our small chicken herd ;-)
2. This created a lot of harm due to the severe side-effects from these medication. If I would be psychotic or manic, I definately would take meds to calm me down and to prevent me from ruining my life, but I definately would have an option to use these meds a short as possible.