Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry
| Peter Breggin | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 11, 1936 |
| Residence | New York, United States |
| Known for | Criticism of biopsychiatry and psychiatric drugs |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychiatry, psychotherapy |
| Website | www |
Peter Roger Breggin (born May 11, 1936) is an American psychiatrist and critic of shock treatment and psychiatric medication. In his books, he advocates replacing psychiatry's use of drugs and electroconvulsive therapy with psychotherapy, education, empathy, love, and broader human services.
Breggin is the author of many books critical of modern psychiatry, including Toxic Psychiatry, Talking Back to Prozac and Talking Back to Ritalin. His most recent book, Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, discusses his theory of medication spellbinding (in which patients are said to do worse after treatment but fail to see this or recognize why), the adverse effects of drugs and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the hazards of diagnosing and medicating children, Breggin's theory of a "psychopharmaceutical complex", and guidelines for psychotherapy and counseling.
Breggin now lives in the Finger Lakes Region of Central New York and practices psychiatry in Ithaca, New York.
He graduated from George W. Hewlett High School in 1954 and was inducted to their Hall of Fame in 2001. Breggin graduated from Harvard College in 1958 then attended Case Western Reserve Medical School. His postgraduate training in psychiatry began with an internship year of mixed medicine and psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. Breggin completed a first year of psychiatric residency at Harvard's Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston, where he was a teaching fellow at Harvard Medical School, and finished his final two years of psychiatric residency at SUNY. This was followed by a two-year staff appointment to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), where he worked to build and staff mental health centers and education. Breggin has taught at several universities, obtaining faculty appointments to the Washington School of Psychiatry, the Johns Hopkins University Department of Counseling, and the George Mason University Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Breggin has worked in a private practice since 1968.
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