Anatomy of an Epidemic: The Hidden Danger of ‘Wonder Drugs’ With Leslie Carol Botha

Tune in to Holy Hormones Honey! with Leslie Botha for her New Episode “Anatomy of an Epidemic: The Hidden Danger of ‘Wonder Drugs.’ Are ‘Wonder Drugs’ Doing More Harm Than Good?” on the Voiceamerica Health and Wellness Channel, airs Thursday January 30th at 9am Pacific Time.

Robert Whitaker is an award-winning science reporter who has explored the history of mental illness in America – with disturbing results. In his new book, Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, Whitaker asks if ‘wonder drugs’ like Prozac are really helping medical consumers, then why has the number of Americans on government disability due to mental illness skyrocketed from 1.25 million in 1987 to over 4 million today?

Are the long term-effects of using ‘wonder’ drugs causing the very problem that psychotropic drugs were supposed to ‘manage’?  Are these ‘wonder’ drugs doing more harm than good? Are they distorting our mental faculties? Are we going “Mad in America” while the rest of the world is watching?

In this episode, the long-term effects of psychiatric drugs, the link between social violence and drugs, and forced psychotropic treatments will be explored.

Guest Bio: Robert Whitaker

Robert Whitaker is the author of four books, two of which tell of the history of psychiatry. His first, Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill was named by Discover magazine as one of the best science books of 2002. His newest book on this topic, Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, won the Investigative Reporters and Editors book award for best investigative journalism in 2010.

Prior to writing, Whitaker worked as the science and medical reporter at the Albany Times Union newspaper in New York. His journalism articles won several national awards, including a George Polk award for medical writing, and a National Association of Science Writers’ award for best magazine article. A series he co-wrote for The Boston Globe was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. He also was director of publications at Harvard Medical School for a time.

About Leslie Carol Botha

Leslie Carol Botha is host of Holy Hormones Honey! on the VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel.  Botha is also a Women’s Health Educator and Internationally Recognized Expert on Women’s Hormones and Behaviors. She is the co-author of the highly acclaimed Understanding Your Mind, Mood, and Hormone Cycle, the first in a menstrual health education series that provides women with the education they never received about how their hormone cycle affects not only their minds, and moods, but their personal and professional relationships and their overall health and happiness.

Botha is a member of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, and an advisory board member for the Cycles Research Institute. In 2006, Botha received the Edward R. Dewey Award for her pioneering research on how women’s hormonal fluctuations affect their behaviors. The award was bequeathed by the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

Her research is also featured in The World According to Cycles- How Recurring Forces Can Predict the Future and Change Your Life by Samuel A. Schreiner, Jr., published by Skyhorse Publishing, New York City. Schreiner has noted that Botha is “one of the most prominent twenty-first century natural cycle thinkers.”

Botha has been a radio broadcast journalist for over 30 years. Her message is loud and clear: it is time for women to reclaim their health, and her passion and drive is to provide information to assist women in making informed choices about their health and well-being.