The propaganda from drug manufacturers would have you believe there is a drug for every problem. Merely mention to your doctor that you're feeling something out of the ordinary, and he'll have his prescription pad ready.

A repairman I knew kept a sign on his desk that read:

How would you like that done?

1) Good.

2) Fast.

3) Cheap.

-- Pick any two."

The pharmaceutical revolution has happened. We are a nation of pill takers, and it may be well nigh impossible to reverse the trends. The TV commercial for Paxil makes the point that no matter what you feel; Paxil can help you cope with it.

"What a promise," winces pharmaceutical critic and psychiatrist Dr. Peter Breggin. "Paxil will make you feel indifferent and apathetic about all the things that really bother you! And that's all you are!"

Passions, vibrancy and vivacity can be simply excised with the use of antidepressant drugs.

Depressing isn't it?

"Antidepressant drugs make you indifferent and apathetic" says Breggin. "The people who claim they work by fixing a chemical imbalance don't know what they're talking about! These drugs create a chemical flood that throws everything out of whack and impairs the thinking. And what's particularly disturbing is that they've worked their way into the recovery community: A group of people who are trying to live their lives according to spiritual principles avoiding all mood-altering chemicals. Yet, many have been coerced by their doctors, or by the propaganda of the big drug companies to use these drugs!"

Breggin has survived the attempts of the pharmaceutical industry to silence him, and in turn has written an answer to Peter D. Kramer’s bestseller "Listening to Prozac"; his caustic "Talking Back to Prozac," and "Talking Back to Ritalin."

In turn he was also compelled to write an answer to the drug manufacturers allegations of inaccuracies in his work titled: "Talking Back to Eli Lilly."

Breggin began in psychiatric care in the fifties when he was working as a volunteer at the State Mental Hospital in Massachusetts. "I worked in the back wards with the patients who were classified as 'untreatable' or hopeless - and I was up against the doctors who said to give them drugs and Shock Therapy: I defied that and found that we were able to treat many of those patients. Many left the hospital and were well again!" He adds that he picked up an important principle that's stuck with him until today, and that is that "the most distressed human beings need some guidance, some care and other human interaction. They don't need drugs!"

One of the principle allegations Breggin takes issue with is the idea that any drug can help you to think more clearly. "There are no drugs that improve mental function, self-understanding, or human relations. Any drug that affects mental processes does so by impairing them."

So, how did antidepressant drugs make their way into the recovery community? "That's simple," says Breggin. "The so-called medical professionals brought them in with them."

"It's a natural desire on the part of the medical community to control this movement which was born out of the work of non-professionals!"

"The pomposity of it all!" he rants. "Their (professional medical) attitude is that nothing can happen which isn't the result of their doing! The nerve!"

When people stop using alcohol or street drugs long enough to recover somewhat from the effects, they are likely to discover that these psychoactive substances were actually retarding their ability to handle life. While influenced by the drugs, they mistakenly accepted or adapted to a lower level of mental and social functioning. After many years of impaired functioning under the influence of marijuana or alcohol, they may need many months or even years of drug-free living to learn how to deal with life with a fully functioning brain.

What happens over the years of somebody taking psychiatric medications is that they really disrupt people’s lives without them even knowing it. It impairs your brain function, but you can't perceive it happening.

Advertising by the drug companies in medical journals has meant that they've stayed on the sidelines of the controversy. "The Journal of the American Medical Association, the Archives of General Psychiatry, and the Archives of Internal Medicine are sent free of charge to their respective specialties. How can the AMA afford to do this? Distribution of the journals is paid for by drug company advertising."

Breggin notes that even medical textbooks are written by drug company advocates who often minimize or ignore important and even dangerous adverse drug reactions. "Only a few professionals become expert on the subject of medications without working with and for the drug companies.

Adverse reactions and problems with drugs are supposed to be reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Health Canada, or other regulatory bodies. "But, they aren't"

Breggin recounts a 1998 study from Quebec where a number of doctors were surveyed about adverse reactions to Benzodiazapines.

"15 doctors were surveyed, and seven of them reported seeing problems including: a fall resulting in a broken hip, a fatal overdose or suicide, a delirium requiring 9 days hospitalization, and a case of severe apathy lasting several days that disrupted all work and family activities. Yet, none of the doctors had written up or reported the problems to any authority or journal!"

Worried? Take a pill.

Drug companies even sponsor advocacy organizations like Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD), and The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). Mental health campaigns promoting "Anxiety Awareness Week" or "Depression Screening" work to the benefit of the drug companies who offer the "easy" solution: Take a pill.

So, what's the solution? There are many therapists who work without drugs, and there’s a growing community of medical professionals who are against the use of antidepressants in treatment. "It's as simple as picking up your phone and calling the therapists who are listed in the phonebook. You'll find someone who will work without drugs. Just check around."

"Most people spend more time looking at a used car than they do with a therapist."

Meantime, you should worry about the effects of antidepressants the people around you. And with good reason: There are people who carry on with their lives without concern for others while they're taking medication.

Peter Breggin hesitates only slightly in his reply. "Sometimes it's a hard call: If he's impaired with alcohol you know his coordination is impaired: Hopefully the person knows their coordination is impaired.

But if he's on Paxil he might be out to get ya!"