Robert Whitaker (author)

Robert Whitaker is an American journalist and author, writing primarily about medicine, science, and history.[1]

Contents

Early career

He was a medical writer at the Albany Times Union newspaper, in Albany, N.Y., from 1989 to 1994. In 1992, he was a Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT.[2] Following that he became director of publications at Harvard Medical School.[3] In 1994 he co-founded a publishing company, CenterWatch, that covered the pharmaceutical clinical trials industry. CenterWatch was acquired by Medical Economics, a division of The Thomson Corporation, in 1998.[4]

Articles which he cowrote won the 1998 George Polk Award for Medical Writing[5] and the 1998 National Association for Science Writers’ Science in Society Journalism Award for best magazine article.[6] A 1998 Boston Globe article series he cowrote on psychiatric research was a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.[7] In April 2011 IRE announced that Anatomy of an Epidemic had won its award as the best investigative journalism book of 2010 stating, "this book provides an in-depth exploration of medical studies and science and intersperses compelling anecdotal examples. In the end, Whitaker punches holes in the conventional wisdom of treatment of mental illness with drugs." [8]

Mad in America

Main article: Mad in America

He has written on and off for the Boston Globe and in 2001, he wrote his first book Mad in America about psychiatric research and medications, the domains of some of his earlier journalism.[9][10] He appeared in the film Take These Broken Wings: Recovery from Schizophrenia Without Medication released in 2008, a film detailing the pitfalls of administering medication for the illness. [1]

Other works

In 2002, USA Today published an article of Whitaker, Mind drugs may hinder recovery in its Ediorial/Opinion section.[11] In 2004, Whitaker published a paper in the non-peer-reviewed journal Medical Hypotheses, titled The case against antipsychotic drugs: a 50-year record of doing more harm than good.[12] In his book Anatomy of an Epidemic, published in 2010, Whitaker continued his work.[13][14][15]

Books

References

  1. ^ author's biography
  2. ^ article in MIT's The Tech
  3. ^ narpa.org interview with author
  4. ^ news coverage of deal
  5. ^ 1998 George Polk Award Winners at a Glance
  6. ^ 1998 Science in Society Journalism Awards
  7. ^ 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
  8. ^ "IRE Awards 2010". Investigative Reporters and Editors. http://www.ire.org/resourcecenter/contest/press/AwardsPR2010.pdf. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 
  9. ^ interview of Whitaker in The Street Spirit
  10. ^ A 50-Year Record of Doing More Harm Than Good Medical Hypotheses, 62 (2004):5-13
  11. ^ "Mind drugs may hinder recovery". USA Today. March 3, 2002. http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2002/03/04/ncguest2.htm. 
  12. ^ Whitaker, R. (2004). "The case against antipsychotic drugs: a 50-year record of doing more harm than good". Medical Hypotheses 62 (1): 5–13. doi:10.1016/S0306-9877(03)00293-7. PMID 14728997.  edit
  13. ^ Fitzpatrick, Laura (May. 3, 2010). "The Skimmer". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1983897,00.html. Retrieved October 5, 2010. 
  14. ^ Burch, Druin (April 7, 2010). "Does psychiatry make us mad?". New Scientist (Reed Business Information). http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627550.700-does-psychiatry-make-us-mad.html. Retrieved October 5, 2010. 
  15. ^ Good, Alex (May 21, 2010). "Book review: Anatomy of an Epidemic". The Record (Metroland Media). http://news.therecord.com/Life/Books/article/715412. Retrieved October 5, 2010. 

Further reading

External links