Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Anatomy of an Epidemic summary
Robert Whitaker
Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America
19 mins
Brief summary
'Anatomy of an Epidemic' by Robert Whitaker explores the rise of mental illness in the US and questions the efficacy of psychiatric medications. It raises concerns about the long-term effects of these drugs and offers alternative solutions for healing.
Topics
Table of Contents
Anatomy of an Epidemic
Summary of 7 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 7
Popular psychiatric medicines were introduced without proper testing.
It’s more than likely that you or someone you know takes a prescription medicine for emotional or psychiatric reasons.
The statistics paint a pretty clear picture:
One out of every eight Americans takes psychiatric medication – including children and infants.
This wasn’t always the case: between 1985 and 2008, the yearly sales of antidepressants and antipsychotics in the United States increased nearly fiftyfold, eventually reaching a whopping $24.2 billion.
That’s big business today, but to trace this phenomenon back to its beginning, we need to look at how such drugs were introduced.
Today, psychoactive drugs are used to treat conditions such as anxiety, depression and mania. But that wasn’t their intended purpose. Originally, doctors were looking for so-called “magic bullets,” or miracle cures, to fight infectious diseases. But in this search they inadvertently invented something else.
In the post-World War II era, between 1954 and 1957, researchers stumbled upon different compounds that affected the central nervous system. While testing the efficacy of these drugs against disease, the researchers found that some of them could dramatically curb a person’s normal physical and emotional responses without causing a loss of consciousness.
This isn’t how drugs are normally developed. Usually, research is devoted to finding a cause for an ailment, followed by the development of a medication that will cure the effects of that ailment.
This is how insulin therapy was developed, once research showed that diabetes was caused by insulin deficiency.
But since the new psychoactive drugs weren’t designed with any particular ailment in mind, they weren’t tested well before going to market.
The pharmaceutical company Smith, Kline & French tested its new mental illness magic bullet, Thorazine, on less than 150 psychiatric patients before applying for FDA approval. The company’s president nevertheless claimed that Thorazine had been thoroughly tested on over 5,000 animals and had “proved active and safe for human administration.”
In 1954, it was put on the US market and advertised as a treatment for schizophrenia, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
Want to see all full key ideas from Anatomy of an Epidemic?
Key ideas in Anatomy of an Epidemic
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is Anatomy of an Epidemic about?
Anatomy of an Epidemic (2010) traces the development of mental health medications and the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the field of psychiatry. These blinks bust the myths we’re told about such drugs, and, in the process, may make you question the wisdom of fighting psychological ills with a panoply of pills.
Best quote from Anatomy of an Epidemic
[Psychoactive drugs] cause the prefrontal cortex to slowly atrophy. - Nancy Andreasen
—Robert Whitaker
Who should read Anatomy of an Epidemic?
- Readers with mental health issues in their family
- Citizens concerned about public health conditions
- Legislators and civil servants
Categories with Anatomy of an Epidemic
Book summaries like Anatomy of an Epidemic
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked these summaries
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
28 Million
Downloads on all platforms
10+ years
Experience igniting personal growth