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Drug Induced Dementia: A Perfect Crime . Grace E. Jackson. Bloomington, IN: Author- House. 2009, 440 pp., $29.95.
Grace Jackson provides detailed substantiation of the chemical injury that is occurring in all ages of people from the use of prescription drugs. Indeed, this is a 21st-century crime of unprecedented dimensions and one that is growing every day. The focus of this book is on psychiatric drugs as a cause of iatrogenic damage to the brain and the body. This is a book that must be read by all physicians, students, and practitioners in the mental health professions as well as by the public. Dr. Jackson has painstakingly written this book in such a way that many consumers can understand the risks of developing dementia from psychiatric drugs even though parts of the book are very difficult to comprehend. Everyone who sees patients should place this book in their waiting room and discuss it in their practice. Drug Induced Dementia: A Perfect Crime should be a part of the curriculum of every medical school. We are in urgent need of identifying and addressing this tragedy locally and internationally.
The way I approach this information is "a spoonful at a time." I'll admit this is pretty hefty reading for my bedside table. This is clearly writing that evokes painful feelings and a struggle to come to terms with "how we have arrived at such a juncture." We are dealing with a crime of huge dimensions. Grace Jackson has faced this dilemma with courage and perseverance, bringing us a work of great scholarly magnitude. This accomplishment has required her to lead in uncharted territory and to identify the problem, describe the findings of damage, and propose what we can do about it.
Dr. Jackson is ingenious in the metaphor she has chosen to introduce us to the workings of the brain. She uses the familiar American treat, the Tootsie Pop: "Candy coating = cortex; tootsie roll center = subcortex; and lollipop stick = brainstem." She further invites us to explore popular movies that depict murder mysteries showing the difficulty of identifying causation and responsibility when there are multiple murder suspects, some of which may be hidden, as is the case in injury or death due to treatment...