This book, though now 10 years old, is an outstanding book of reviews of the research on the effectiveness of psychiatric medications. Each chapter reviews a different class of meds, including anti-depressants (pre-Prozac), anxiolitics (anti-anxiety meds), neuroleptics (so-called antipsychotics), Ritalin (in a chapter that challenges the idea that Attention Deficit Disorder even exists), and even a chapter on shock treatment. The review are rigorous, scholarly, and critical. The editors summarize the reviews by stating that at the present time (1989)"biological psychiatry is swimming in uncertainty" in spite of the inflated claims of the pharmaceutical industry regarding their highly profitable products (little has changed in the last ten years in this respect) The authors of the various chapters criticize technical aspects of research designs, the financial dependence of researchers on drug companies, the exaggeration of therapeutic benefits, the ignoring of negative results, the minimization or under-reporting of side effects, and the over-generalizing of the appropriate use of medications to patient populations that were not part of the research on a particular drug's effectiveness. This is a must read for psychotherapists and patients who have been intimidated by the claims that drug treatments are quicker and more effective than psychotherapy, claims that this book calls into question.

I have two general chemistry classes that I assigned an essay about a scientist. They liked this book over many others. It has the scientists indexed for the teacher to do a quick check as well.