One blog that is worth paying close attention to in this space is Mad in America: History Science and Psychiatry, a comprehensive look at mental illness treatment and pharmaceuticals written by Robert Whitaker, author of a number of books on the subject.

Whitaker’s eponymous Mad in America: Bad Medicine, Bad Science and the Continued Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill, published in 2010, was called, “One of the most disturbing, consequential works of investigative journalism I’ve read in a long time. Perhaps ever,” by John Horgan in Scientific American. Whitaker’s more recent Anatomy of an Epidemic, from 2011, examines whether psychiatric drugs are behind the meteoric rise in mental illness in the United States over the past fifty years. “In 1955, there were 355,000 adults in state and county mental hospitals with psychiatric diagnosis. During the next three decades (the era of the first generation psychiatric drugs), the number of disabled mentally ill rose to 1.25 million,” he writes in one post on the blog. The book attempts to answer that question—are doctor-prescribed pharmaceuticals inducing mental illness?—with a look at the science, and the blog is meant to provide readers with access to the studies that the book examines as well as to provide ongoing coverage of news on mental illness treatment, pharmaceutical company malfeasance and drug side effects in the U.S.

Whitaker’s blog is always busy with tons of fresh content and an active and engaged readership. There is a good mix of well-written personal stories and hard news. He has various guest bloggers posting on his website, as well as links to news articles in publications such as Bloomberg, Markewatch, and local newspapers and an Op-Ed section. A “What’s Hot This Week,” section highlights the most read posts on his website and this week includes posts such as, “Mylan Pharmaceuticals Admit their Drug is the Probable Cause of My Son’s Suicide,” which has logged 797 views and gotten 2 comments, “Boycott The DSM-5: Anachronistic Before Its Time,” with 474 views and 7 comments, and “Shifting the Balance of Power in the Psychiatric System,” which has 312 views and 35 comments.

This is a blog with a clear agenda and a ton of information for parents, family members and sufferers of mental illness, as well as those who have been subjected to bad psychiatry or crappy drug prescription. The thrust of the coverage: the side effects of routinely prescribed drugs can be so devastating as to cause seizures, suicide and other lifelong illnesses in some people and often these side effects are not disclosed by the drug companies who make them. When the sick finally make the connection between the drugs they have taken and the illnesses they have suffered, they often face hostility and lack of cooperation from doctors, psychiatrists and drug companies. While patients have won some lawsuits, drug companies are also winning some surprising battles. For example, at a time when antipsychotics with potentially life-threatening side effects are being over-prescribed to children and adults, the U.S. has been barred, under free-speech laws, from prosecuting drug-marketing reps for marketing their drugs for unapproved off-label purposes.

A version of Whitaker’s blog runs on Psychology Today’s website.