Overprescribing Madness

“This is a must read book for anyone, lay or professional, who is interested in understanding the impact of mental health services on patients and society more broadly. Dr Martin Whitely does a masterful job of documenting how vested interests and a few high profile psychiatrists have colluded to deceive the media and politicians into implementing policies that have made things worse not better. Dr Whitely combines his academic skills with his background in politics to narrate a sorry tail of how Australia were sold a dangerous medical model psychiatry that expanded the pool of people thought to have a mental disorder/illness along with drug prescribing that has undoubtedly exposed more people to harm than helped them. Every politician should read Dr Whitely’s prescription for the minimum recommended political actions needed to remedy this sorry state of affairs.” – Dr Sami Timimi a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist from the UK

Dr. Martin Whitely is a mental health researcher, author, former mental health consumer advocate, teacher, and Member of the West Australian Parliament. His research interests include regulatory capture of mental health policy and practice, especially in relation to the safe use of drugs for ADHD and depression. He has led award-winning research demonstrating that the youngest children in a classroom both in Western Australia and globally are much more likely than their older classmates to be ‘medicated’ for ADHD.