The mentally ill have been called mad, lunatics, and defectives. They have been treated with everything from Quaker compassion to lobotomies and electro-shock. The history of schizophrenia is a canvas for a grander understanding of what society considers "normal" - and the lengths we will go to - to cure madness in our midst.
A new book, "Mad in America," argues that today's pill-obsessed psychiatric efforts continue the dehumanization of the mentally ill; that cutting-edge drugs impose a constructed and twisted "normality" profitable only for the pharmaceutical companies and HMOs. It's a direct challenge to the prevailing professional opinion - that with careful chemistry, we can finally solve the most complex psychiatric puzzles of our time.
