| Binding: Paperback |
| EAN: 9780140159400 |
| ISBN: 0140159401 |
| Label: Penguin (Non-Classics) |
| Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics) |
| Number Of Items: 1 |
| Number Of Pages: 432 |
| Product Group: Book |
| Publication Date: 1994-06-01 |
| Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) |
| Sales Rank on Amazon: 2,096,379 |
| Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics) |
| UPC: |
Source:Product Description
In debating the proper uses of the antidepressant drug, Prozac, a practicing psychiatrist explores what the personality-altering effects of such psychotherapeutic drugs reveal about intelligence and the nature of the self. Reprint. 200,000 first printing. Major ad/promo. Tour.
Source:Amazon.com Review
Psychiatrist Peter Kramer's book Listening to Prozac created a sensation when it was released in 1993, and it remains the most fascinating look at the new generation of antidepressants. Kramer found that the changes in brain chemistry brought about by Prozac had a wide variety of effects, often giving users greater feelings of self-worth and confidence, less sensitivity to social rejection, and even a greater willingness to take risks. He cites cases of mildly depressed patients who took the drug and not only felt better but underwent remarkable personality transformations--which he (along with many of the book's readers) found disconcerting, leading him to question whether the medicated or unmedicated version was the person's "real" self. Kramer has been criticized for seeming to advocate Prozac over psychotherapy or as a way of achieving personality changes not directly related to the disease of depression, such as improving one's social confidence or job performance. In fact, he makes no such recommendations; he was simply the first popular writer to suggest that these changes might occur. (He answers those critics in the afterword to this 1997 edition.) For anyone considering taking antidepressants or wanting a better understanding of the effects these drugs are having on our society, Listening to Prozac is a very important book.
Average Customer Review: 4.0
Total Customer Reviews: 33
7 out of 9 people found this review helpful:
Rating: 1
Summary: To the Uninitiated: Read with Caution!
This is a dangerous book, because it implies that psychological problems, equated here with chemical imbalances, can be solved by drugs. It never points out that "chemical imbalances"---whatever they are---might be caused by trauma, and that healing the trauma might be the real solution to the problem.
Yes, Prozac (and other psych drugs) can seriously affect the chemicals in the brain and can at times help the brain mimic a state of chemical "balance," but what does this really say? My main issue with this subject matter is around the question of what it means to "beat" a psychological problem like depression. In my experience, depression can go away because: 1) you work through it, grieve the losses that are causing it, and thus heal from it, or 2) you bury it, dissociate out of it, and do not heal from it, but devolve away from it. Clinically, from conventional psychiatry's perspective, the two look very similar, because conventional psychiatry takes a surface view of things---looking at symptoms and symptom reduction.
So even if Prozac and its fellows were proven to be 1000 times better than anything else for removing depression, that wouldn't mean anything to me. Likewise, just because a certain therapy "works" to remove depressed symptoms doesn't tell me anything and what's really going on dynamically within the person.
I personally think the meds, no matter how well they work---and I have seen people in therapy "lose" their depression as the result of anti-depressants---do not help people grow and evolve. Thus, I hate them--and I hate books like this that "gently" promote them. (Also, this book minimizes side effects, and even goes so far as to state that there is no withdrawal syndrome associated with Prozac: untrue!) Yes, "magic" pills like Prozac may help some people get out of the house, but they send the wrong message to the soul, because they avoid both the deeper problem and the deeper solution.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful:
Rating: 5
Summary: Check STAR-D
I have to confess that I bought this book when it first came out and it has sat on my shelves unread for a decade. Part of my neglect was that I had heard so much about it, and it seemed that the central message was that antidepressants are helpful for mood disturbances other than severe depression. This seemed a no-brainer to me and I couldn't figure why such a simple proposition merited three hundred pages.
To some extent I still think the same, but I was impressed by his excellent writing and sharp insights, not only into his patients, but into the working of psycho-scientific politics. He personally knew many of the scientists involved in the developments of the last forty years of the twentieth century.
At the beginning of those four decades it looked as if the Kraepelinians had had conclusively won their battle. Medication proved that there were separate mental illnesses. Lithium was good for mania, anti-depressants and ECT for depression, Thorazine or Haldol for schizophrenia, benzodiazepines for anxiety, and psycho stimulants for ADHD. You made the diagnosis correctly and if you had made the right diagnosis you prescribed the right pill. Things have become fuzzier, and Kramer was among the first to point this out.
There are no diagrams, illustrations or tables. He gives a remarkably clear explanation of the technology of developing a new drug that works on specific neuroreceptors. He does this without illustrations, which is a tour de force of a writer's skill. Maybe, however, pictures would have saved a few words.
He ignores statistics. Terms such as factor analysis, odds ratio, number needed to treat, and so forth do not appear. Even in 1993 we knew about such things. Many of the patients he describes might have been getting better or getting worse regardless of the pills. Post hoc is not always propter hoc. I would recommend googling STAR-D to get a more accurate picture of what can and cannot be helped by anti-depressant drugs.
9 out of 22 people found this review helpful:
Rating: 1
Summary: SSRIs shown to be Harmful in many people.
SSRIs are dangerous. Thats a fact. Frankly I am surprised by all of the comments praising this book, the people writing these reviews must all be psychiatrists wanting to believe in the fantasy of this "miracle drug." The truth is srris have terrible side effects, and can change your whole soul and personality. I know this from my own experience. Sure, yhe medications help at first, but then they turn on you, and at that point your psychiatrist doesn't want to hear about it and suddenly they don't care about you at all. In many cases SSRIs make matters worse, this is called-clinical worsening of depression and/or changes in personality, its on the label that comes with the medication. And what about the link between SSRIs and violent behavior, there is well documented information showing a direct relation to SSRIs increasing violent behaviors in patients. And what about case reports pouring through the internet of people revealing there horror stories involving these drugs. There is a very dark shadow side to these medications. In some people SSRIs can accually cause pssd(post ssri sexual dysfunction), in which case you loose most of your sex drive-permanently.
I'm not saying they don't help some people, but to look at only one side-the good side- of a medication is extremely dangerous and puts patients in danger and that is what worries me. If you want the other side of ssri medication, go to youtube and watch the video entitled SEROXAT, or simply start researching it on the internet. It is dangerous stuff.
31 out of 50 people found this review helpful:
Rating: 1
Summary: The Rest of the Story
This is a very famous and a very influential book. This was not the first time I checked the book out of the library but I now know much more about antidepressants and the related issues than I did when I first became familiar with Kramer's book. What I found on my quick survey of the book this time amazed me. This is not a book supported by research. It is a book of stories. The stories, one after the other, are about Kramer's patients (Kramer is a psychiatrist) and how taking Prozac dramatically transformed lives overnight. Consider these four examples.
1. Sam: "Sam not only recovered from his depression, he declared himself better than well. He felt unencumbered, more vitally alive, less pessimistic. Now he could complete projects in one draft, whereas before he sketched and sketched again. His memory was more reliable, his concentration keener. His memory was more reliable, his concentration keener. Every aspect of his work went more smoothly. He appeared more poised, more thoughtful, less distracted. He was able to speak at professional gatherings without notes.(Page x.)
2. Sally: After four months on Prozac, she looked brighter, calmer, self-assured, in control of herself. The most important effect of the medication, Sally felt was that it cleared her head...After ten months...she negotiated a small promotion and pay raise at a time when the bank was cutting back staff...More remarkable was the change to her private life. She started going to dances...(Page 147.)
3. William M: The patient's low self-esteem, which had been present since his earliest childhood, began to disappear...On medication William M. experienced a sense of self-worth superior to any he had felt before. (Page 203.)
4. Ms. B: For the first time in her memory she felt perfectly relaxed and happy sitting at home reading books or listening to music and felt less of the free-floating anxiety that was previously quelled by going out...Off Prozac, Ms. B. bar-hopped in search of men. Prozac moderated her sense of aloneness and allowed her to enjoy a variety of social settings.
Dozens of other examples could be cited. The point is, this is essentially the book. It is a book which convinces the reader of the almost magic power of Prozac by sharing stories like these. What is disturbing is that I now know the truth. Research investigations have found that the power of antidepressants has increased dramatically. They are now more effective because our belief in the power of a pill to cure social shyness, anxiety, depression, and a bad temper has increased dramatically. We have come to believe, as Kramer puts it, "biology is destiny" (page xiv). No where does Kramer explain that the longest of the clinical trial used to get approval of Prozac to market was only 8 weeks long. No where does he share that a tranquilizer was given to study subjects and the other tricks used to make the effectiveness of the drug appear greater than it really is. The dangers of long-term use (diabetes, Parkinson's disease, permanent muscle jerking, etc.) are never discussed. (Of course, these problems were still unknown when Kramer wrote.) See Timothy Scott's wonderful, and unlike Kramer's book, carefully documented book America Fooled: The Truth About Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, and How We've Been Fooled to find the dangers as well as what does bring good mental health. Yes, this book has been influential. Thus, Kramer bears some of the responsibilty for the myth surrounding antidepressants. (They do not work as well as exercise even--numerous studies.) It's funny how, as our knowledge grows, a great book beomes a harmful book, but it is just that.
1 out of 7 people found this review helpful:
Rating: 5
Summary: A Good Book
This is a great book to read if you want to know about Prozac. It isn't written with all the medical lingo to where you don't understand. It is written for the average person and easy to understand and comprehend. Loaded with tons of great information. Highly Recommended.
