Dr. Peter R. Breggin is one of the nation's most outspoken opponents of involuntary "psychiatric behavior modification" and dangerous drug therapies for children.

For more than 30 years he has written books, lectured, and testified in trials to warn against the dangers of "psychiatric abuse" such as forced medication, psychosurgery, electroshock treatments, and the over-prescription of Ritalin and Prozac for young people.

Breggin says his goal is to defend the "values of personal freedom, civil liberties, and the well-being of the individual" against the "psycho-pharmaceutical complex" -- the government, drug companies, and the psychiatric establishment.

Instead of relying on drugs with unpredictable side effects, Breggin argues that mental health professionals must focus on an "individual's personal responsibility for overcoming his failures and for learning to fulfill his dreams and aspirations."

Breggin, a practicing psychiatrist since 1968, is the author of Toxic Psychiatry (1991), Talking Back to Ritalin (1998); and The War Against Children (1994). In 1972, he founded the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, which works to oppose "the use of force and fraud in the mental health movement."

In interviews and articles, Breggin has made the connection between his life's work and his libertarian beliefs. In the book Total Freedom by Chris Sciabarra (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000), Breggin said, "Oppression must be simultaneously attacked within both the personal and the political arenas. We must develop a renewed commitment to political freedom, and at the same time we must develop a better understanding of personal sovereignty and personal freedom."

Breggin has written several books with pro-liberty messages, including The Psychology of Freedom: Liberty and Love as a Way of Life (1980). He is a member of the advisory committees for the Libertarian Alliance (England) and the Center for Libertarian Studies (California).

-- Bill Winter

Quotable

"Libertarian philosophy is based upon the conviction that liberty is the highest value and the context within which human beings thrive." -- Peter Breggin

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