Perhaps you missed it, but psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Carlat released his first mainstream book in May criticizing the profession of psychiatry entitled, Unhinged. I’ve read it, enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to get a good understanding of how mainstream psychiatry is practiced throughout the U.S. today. Psychiatrists spend most of their time listening briefly to their patients, checking on how they’re doing on their medications, and send patients on their way, typically after only 10 or 15 minutes every few weeks. Psychotherapy is mostly done by psychologists and other mental health professionals.

If you’ve followed the mental health profession for the past decade — and especially with the nonstop disclosures of a number of company’s unethical practices of ghostwriting and such over the past 5 years — much of this is probably not new to you. But since most people don’t have that great an interest in the details of a profession (and its dirty laundry — keeping in mind all professions have dirty laundry), I think this book will be eye-opening for most people who pick it up.

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