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I was really dismayed by Vincent's depiction of psychiatric drugs in Voluntary Madness, particularly antipsychotic drugs like Seroquel. As someone whose mental illness (schizoaffective disorder) is and was NOT voluntary, I could tell Vincent that, for me, Seroquel made and continues to make the difference between life and a living death. The onset of my illness brought loud and threatening hallucinations (voices that threatened to kill me and worse). I was treated with a variety of drugs, the first of which were not very helpful for me. When my doctor tried giving me Seroquel, however, my life returned to normal as the drug built up in my system. The delusions stopped almost completely, and what voices I heard from then on were and are few and far between. They were also easy to distinguish from real sounds and ceased to be frightening--they became merely annoying and easy to ignore. While the drug was sedating at first, my body adjusted to it very quickly (it is usually taken at bedtime for this reason). I could also tell Vincent that I certainly DO NOT twitch, drool, or fall asleep during daily activities! If and when people experience these side effects from drugs, their doctors should withdraw them slowly and gradually while starting them (also slowly and gradually) on new ones. Unless I missed it, Vincent failed to mention that this simple solution to these problems is even possible. Stopping any psychiatric drug slowly and gradually, under a doctor's supervision, is also an easy way to avoid a painful withdrawal. Vincent demonizes Effexor, for example, as causing withdrawal, but she never mentions that this withdrawal is avoidable. She also observed that antidepressants and antipsychotics did not seem to work on the real patients on her ward. Well, unlike aspirin, these drugs usually take weeks and even months to build up to a theraputic level in the body. This is something Vincent would have known had she done a bit of research. Vincent seems intent on making a career of posing as things that she is not. Still, she should have educated herself MUCH better on the subject of severe mental illness and the drugs used to treat it before filling Voluntary Madness with her baseless opinions. Instead of writing a book about mental illness and its treatments (especially psychopharmacology), Vincent should have read one! I would like to recommend three books to her or anyone else who wants to read a good first-hand account of mental illness and its treatment: The Center Cannot Hold by Elyn R. Saks The Quiet Room by Lori Schiller An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison Clarification: I believe that many psychiatric patients are normal, healthy people who are unhappy for external reasons or going through temporary crises. Vincent, by her own account, seems to fall into this category. Others, however, have real, biologically based illnesses that (so far) cannot be cured. They can only be treated and the most effective treatment is usually medication, often used with conjunction with therapy. I fall into this category, and I am frustrated that Vincent seems to deny its existence. Vincent should be glad that she is lucky enough not to need medication. Instead of insisting that since she doesn't need it, no one does, she should have enough humility to refrain from judging what she doesn't understand.