Presents a controversial assessment of the rise in mental illness-related disabilities and considers if drug-based care may be fueling illness rates throughout the past half century.

A modern plague -- Anecdotal thoughts -- The roots of an epidemic -- Psychiatry's magic bullets -- The hunt for chemical imbalances -- A paradox revealed -- The benzo trap -- An episodic illness turns chronic -- The bipolar boom -- An epidemic explained -- The epidemic spreads to children -- Suffer the children -- The rise of an ideology -- The story that was . . . and wasn't told -- Tallying up the profits -- Blueprints for reform.