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Book Review: Comfortably Numb by Charles Barber
In the book “Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation,” Charles Barber explores the over-prescription of antidepressants to Americans. The examination of the issue in the book brings out the delicate concern of the over-prescription medicine in the United States. The issue of the prescription of Americans to many drugs is a critical theme of the literature perspective of Charles Barber. The extent at which Americans are taking drugs is alarming and requires a critical view, which is ably presented by Barber. The review of the book will present the major themes and the medical model presented by Barber in the book and explores the debate about the issues arising from the text.
The over-prescription of Americans to antidepressants is the major theme presented by Barber in the book. According to Barber (2008), a significant number of Americans are under antidepressants, which are prescribed to them by medical institutions. What amazes Barber is that Americans are still being prescribed to them at an alarming rate. To defend his argument and the theme in general, Barber takes the case of Winterset, a city in Madison County of the Iowa state. Barber reports that in 2002, 16% of Winterset inhabitants had an antidepressant prescription (Barber, 2008). This gives a case that Barber argues to gradually being replicated in the entire united states at a concerning rate.
The second theme is the commercialization of mood and psychiatry drugs in America. Barber explores the circumstances that have led to the commercialization of these drugs and points the problem to the commercial interest of the pharmaceutical companies. According to Barber (2008), pharmaceutical companies create the need for a drug, market the need and supply the drug to the market. This is the trend that can be referred to as corporate psychiatry, where corporate bodies control the type of medication being prescribed by doctors by controlling the supply of the drugs (Barber, 2008). This is what leads to the argument by Barber that the pharmaceutical industry has taken a significant role in the psychiatric industry more than the doctors.
Another theme is the role of the pharmaceutical industry in the distribution and prescription of psychiatric drugs. In this regard, the main argument by Barber is that if there was no industry, non-pharmaceutical approaches are overlooked as the instant cure for emotional difficulties are being preferred. The preferred cures are the ones that get aggressive marketing from the pharmaceutical firms who have a commercial interest in the industry. According to Barber, the reason for this situation is the aggressive marketing strategies adopted by the pharmaceutical industries. Barber argues that the aggressive marketing of the pharmaceutical companies succeeds to give them an advantage because of the pervasive nature nature if Americans to seek happiness.
In the book, Barber takes a medical model of alternative solutions to psychiatric problems, rather than psychiatry drugs. Therefore, Barber explores the importance of the cognitive behavioral treatments that are better alternatives to the psychiatric drugs. The medical model of dumbness gives a better meaning of the situation that America is experiencing with psychiatry drugs. The perspective represents a country that is psychiatrically ailing from the excessive prescription. The use of comfortable dumb represents the view of Barber about the people who are being kept comfortable by the over-prescription of psychiatric drugs in the United States. This model shows the idea of a depressed country that relies in quick cure to emotion to remain comfortable. The model of a comfortable numb represents the way the responses to mental illnesses has cycled from cure to skepticism as the prescription is taking quick cures for the population.
To present these themes, Barber takes a historical perspective of his involvement in social work in New York. Barber cites the cases he experienced while working with homeless people in New York in the late 1980s. He notes that most of the homeless and mentally ill patients were troublesome and delusionary (Barber, 2008). Therefore, to quell their unruly moods, they were given and taking antidepressants, in a range of medications. Barber notes that some of the drugs were in existence and have been in use as early as the early 1950s and 1960s (Barber, 2008). In this view, Barber observes that practice as cultured practice by most psychiatrists, and not a modern day issue. However, Barber critically examines the issues from the commercial and ethical perspective, which brings the second theme.
In agreement with Barber, I think aggressive marketing can have an undue influence on the prescription of the drug in question by doctors. I think aggressive marketing by the pharmaceutical companies creates the undue advantage towards the pharmaceutical firms in two ways. First, I agree because the marketing influences the view of the doctors that the drug is more credible and effective compared with the others in the market. Secondly, aggressive marketing shapes the mindset of the patients to believe that they should get certain “superior” drugs in the prescriptions given by the doctor. In addition, aggressive marketing eliminates questions about the prescription of some drugs by the doctors as people deem them to be correct. I think this is what gives pharmaceutical companies an influence through commercial marketing of their drugs.
However, I disagree with the view that the drugs are sometimes harmful with over-prescription. First, the drugs are approved by the FDA for specialized and psychiatry prescription. Secondly, I think the pharmaceutical companies seek profit but they still present valid drugs that are effective for the desired use. Thirdly, the drugs are produced by the same pharmaceutical companies that use doctors in research and development of the drugs. In this regard, most of the book by Barber is not research based, as he does not carry his own study about the problem. Despite the disagreement, the views of Barber are valid about the problem of over-prescription in the United States.
I would recommend the book to any person who is concerned about the safety of the drugs they are being prescribed, especially psychiatric drugs. This is because the book provides a valid concern that has been known and cited before. Secondly, the book gives specific examples that defend the assertions about the concern of over-prescription of psychiatric drugs in the United States. Thirdly, the book presents a question of safety of the psychiatry prescription, which can be answered through further research.
A critical point about the book is the ethical view of the pharmaceutical industry. It is important to look at the ethical concerns of the strategies used by pharmaceutical companies to create a need for drugs and then rush to supply them. This is the most critical point I will hope to remember about the book by Barber. In fact, I tend to extend the same critical view on the other drugs and medical prescriptions. The concern for ethics and views about the industry shows that Barber was successful in exploring the issue of over-prescription of antidepressants in the United States.
References
Barber, C. (2008). Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group