Editing Psychiatric medication (section)

== Controversies ==
{{Main|Controversies about psychiatry|Political abuse of psychiatry}}
Professionals, such as [[David Rosenhan]], [[Peter Breggin]], [[Paula Caplan]], [[Thomas Szasz]], [[Giorgio Antonucci]] and [[Stuart A. Kirk]], sustain that psychiatry engages "in the systematic medicalization of normality".<ref name="Kirk 2013 p. 185">{{cite book|last=Kirk|first=Stuart|title=Mad science : psychiatric coercion, diagnosis, and drugs|publisher=Transaction Publishers|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4128-4976-0|location=New Brunswick, N.J|page=185|oclc=808769553}}</ref> More recently these concerns have come from insiders who have worked for and promoted the APA (e.g., [[Robert Spitzer (psychiatrist)|Robert Spitzer]], [[Allen Frances]]).<ref name="Kirk2013">{{cite book|last=Kirk|first=Stuart A.|title=Mad Science: Psychiatric Coercion, Diagnosis, and Drugs|publisher=Transaction Publishers|year=2013}}</ref>{{rp|185}}

Scholars such as [[David Cooper (psychiatrist)|Cooper]], [[Michel Foucault|Foucalt]], [[Erving Goffman|Goffman]], [[Gilles Deleuze|Deleuze]] and [[Thomas Szasz|Szasz]] believe that pharmacological "treatment" is only a [[placebo]] effect,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Szasz, Thomas Stephen |title=Ceremonial chemistry : the ritual persecution of drugs, addicts, and pushers |date=2003 |publisher=Syracuse Univ. Press |isbn=0-8156-0768-7 |oclc=834790127}}</ref> and that administration of drugs is just a [[religion]] in disguise and ritualistic chemistry.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Szasz|first=Thomas S.|date=October 1974|title=The Myth of Psychotherapy|journal=American Journal of Psychotherapy|volume=28|issue=4|pages=517–526|doi=10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1974.28.4.517|pmid=4429160|issn=0002-9564}}</ref> Other scholars{{Who|date=April 2024}} have argued against psychiatric medication in that significant aspects of mental illness are related to the psyche or environmental factors, but medication works exclusively on a pharmacological basis.

Antipsychotics have been associated with decreases in brain volume over time, which may indicate a neurotoxic effect. However, untreated psychosis has also been associated with decreases in brain volume and treatments have been shown improve cognitive functioning.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://drvolkerbusch.de/kampf-den-vorurteilen-podcast-gehirn-gehoert-folge-15/ | title=Kampf den Vorurteilen - Wie uns Stereotype und Klischees in die Irre führen können | date=21 July 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=How do psychiatric drugs work?|first1=Joanna|last1=Moncrieff|first2=David|last2=Cohen|date=May 29, 2009|journal=The BMJ|volume=338|pages=b1963|doi=10.1136/bmj.b1963|pmid=19482870|pmc=3230235}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ho|first1=Beng-Choon|last2=Andreasen|first2=Nancy C.|last3=Ziebell|first3=Steven|last4=Pierson|first4=Ronald|last5=Magnotta|first5=Vincent|date=February 2011|title=Long-term Antipsychotic Treatment and Brain Volumes|journal=Archives of General Psychiatry|volume=68|issue=2|pages=128–137|doi=10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.199|issn=0003-990X|pmc=3476840|pmid=21300943}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Antipsychotics and the Shrinking Brain|url=https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/antipsychotics-and-shrinking-brain|access-date=2020-07-25|journal=Psychiatric Times|series=Psychiatric Times Vol 28 No 4 |date=4 May 2011 |volume=28 |issue=4 }}</ref>