--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: With psychiatric medications, you solve…" description: "\"“With psychiatric medications, you solve one problem for a period of time, but the next thing you know you end up with two problems. The treatment turn..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/robert-whitaker-27072_medicine_with-psychiatric-medications-you-solve-o_3148052.jpg" --- # With psychiatric medications, you solve one problem for a… ![“With psychiatric medications, you solve one problem for a period of time, but the next thing you know you end up with two problems. The treatment turns a period of crisis into a chronic mental illness. - Amy Upham” quote by Robert Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/robert-whitaker-27072_medicine_with-psychiatric-medications-you-solve-o_3148052.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/robert-whitaker-27072_medicine_with-psychiatric-medications-you-solve-o_3148052.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/robert-whitaker-27072_medicine_with-psychiatric-medications-you-solve-o_3148052.jpg) > ““With psychiatric medications, you solve one problem for a period of time, but the next thing you know you end up with two problems. The treatment turns a period of crisis into a chronic mental illness. - Amy Upham”” [Robert Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-whitaker/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Critiques psychiatric drugs for creating chronic issues, turning acute crises into long‑term illness. **In simple terms:** Drugs can cause new problems. Key Takeaway Beware medication side effects. Themes medicine psychology ethics Mood cautious critical Type medical philosophical When to use this quote - clinical practice - patient counseling - policy making - research - public health Key Concepts pharmacology dependency patient autonomy Questions to Reflect On - How to balance short‑term relief vs long‑term risk? - What alternatives exist to medication? A Different Perspective Not all patients experience worsening. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Medicine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/medicine/) [Mental illness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mental-illness/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“We have been focusing on the role that psychiatry and its medications may be playing in this epidemic, and the evidence is quite clear.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-whitaker/we-have-been-focusing-on-the-role-that-psychiatry-and-its-medications/) [Robert Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-whitaker/) > [We as a country are very good at responding to acute, short-term crises. 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People complain about tax dollars and say we don't have the money.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nia-long/i-think-we-need-to-talk-about-mental-illness-a-lot-more-people/) [Nia Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nia-long/) > [“Today, our view of genuine reality is increasingly clouded by professionals whose technical expertise often introduces a superficial and soulless model of the person…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-kleinman/today-our-view-of-genuine-reality-is-increasingly-clouded-by/) [Arthur Kleinman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-kleinman/) > [This tendency to avoid problems and the emotional suffering inherent in them is the primary basis of all human mental illness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-r-swindoll/this-tendency-to-avoid-problems-and-the-emotional-suffering-inherent/) [Charles R. Swindoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-r-swindoll/) > [“I swear that I will never cause trouble for anybody, as long as I live!! So please! Nobody cause any trouble for me, either!!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/minoru-furuya/i-swear-that-i-will-never-cause-trouble-for-anybody-as-long-as-i-live/) Minoru Furuya ## More by Robert Whitaker > [“The history of psychiatry and its treatments can be a contentious issue in our society, so much so that when you write about it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-whitaker/the-history-of-psychiatry-and-its-treatments-can-be-a-contentious/) [Robert Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-whitaker/) > [“The off-drug patients also suffered less from depression, blunted emotions, and retarded movements. Indeed, they told Carpenter and McGlashan that they had found it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-whitaker/the-off-drug-patients-also-suffered-less-from-depression-blunted/) [Robert Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-whitaker/) > [“I have always been told that a person has to accept that the illness is chronic," she says, at the end of our interview.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-whitaker/i-have-always-been-told-that-a-person-has-to-accept-that-the-illness/) [Robert Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-whitaker/) > [“Rather than fix chemical imbalances in the brain, the drugs creat them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-whitaker/rather-than-fix-chemical-imbalances-in-the-brain-the-drugs-creat-them/) [Robert Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-whitaker/) > [“When it comes to dead bodies in current psychotropic trials, there are a greater number of them in the active treatment groups than in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-whitaker/when-it-comes-to-dead-bodies-in-current-psychotropic-trials-there-are/) [Robert Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-whitaker/) > [“If you expand the boundaries of mental illness, which is clealry what has happened in this country during the past twenty-five years, and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-whitaker/if-you-expand-the-boundaries-of-mental-illness-which-is-clealry-what/) [Robert Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-whitaker/) > [“...and she no longer is having her emotional responses to...stress numbed by medication. 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It lives in the in-between of family members, and in the in-between of people," Salo explained. "It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-whitaker/psychosis-does-not-live-in-the-head-it-lives-in-the-in-between-of/) [Robert Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-whitaker/) [Explore all 21 Robert Whitaker quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-whitaker/) ## More Medicine quotes > [I think people need to be comfortable questioning the authority of a doctor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susannah-cahalan/i-think-people-need-to-be-comfortable-questioning-the-authority-of-a/) [Susannah Cahalan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susannah-cahalan/) > [Tell the truth about your wound, and then you will get a truthful picture of the remedy to apply to it. 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