I wish there was a long-term study done on these issues, but we have only a small handful.

Most studies, especially those that show a drug is "safe" and "effective" are done for 8 to 16 weeks. That's it. I don't know of anyone who takes a psychiatric medication for so short a period of time (excepting anti-anxiety drugs, which are short-acting).

I'd love to see the long-term studies that take fMRIs or something similar of people before treatment, 4-6 weeks after treatment begins, then a scan every month or every few months for the years they are on the medication.

As I understand it, to date, most of what we have to examine the real long-term effects of some medications are single case studies, which are often dismissed as "oh, that person was unique." I haven't read the book so I'm interested in what you're writing here... very interesting.

For the record, in the previous books I've read by Breggin, he seems to go a bit to the extreme to make his point. I think he'd be more effective if he didn't go to such extremes, because then his critics simply paint him as someone with an extreme view and his own agenda. But he does raise interesting questions.

John