Another excellent book from this trio, following up This is Madness ... Together the essays present the case for a root and branch overhaul of the mental heath system ... Go buy it, wherever you stand on these issues. This is serious, evidence-based stuff, not simply polemic. It may change minds as well as fuel the efforts of the converted. Catherine Jackson, Mental Health Today, September 2002. This is a very useful book in the armoury against the medicalization of mental distress. Its particular strength is in the forceful and eloquent contributions by service-users and survivors who offer challenging accounts of the problems they and others have experienced ... The book flags up the negative effects and potential damage of psychoactive drugs including the inappropriate prescribing of such drugs, particularly to children and people with learning disability. Throughout the chapters run repeated themes of realistic choice being made available to patients and the need to reduce discrimination from both professionals and the public. Powerful political action requires a more co-ordinated approach by service-users and survivors; this book rightly serves to aid that co-ordination. Maggie McCormack, The Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy, Vol.2, No.3, 2002.
