Listening to Prozac : A Psychiatrist Explores Antidepressant Drugs and the Remaking of the Self: Revised Edition

by Kramer, Peter D. (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780140266719
• ISBN10: 0140266712
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-09-01
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Summary

Since it was introduced in 1987, Prozac has been prescribed to nearly five million Americans. But what is Prozac? A medication or a mental steroid? A cure for depression, or a drug that changes personality? Reported to turn shy people into social butterflies and to improve work performance, memory, even dexterity, does Prozac work on character rather than illness? Are we using it cosmetically, to make people more attractive, more energetic, more socially acceptable? And what does it tell us about the nature of character and the mutability of self? With the addition of an afterword that gives us an up-to-date report on Prozac in America today, including his personal observations, reactions to his critics, and the latest scientific research, psychiatrist Peter Kramer reinforces what The New York Times calls 'an intelligent and informative book...which tells us new things about the chemistry of human character.' Dr. Kramer was recently asked to guest host The Infinite Mind, a weekly public radio show focusing on the art and science of the human mind and spirit, behavior, and mental health. Listen to the show now.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Makeover	p. 1
Compulsion	p. 22
Antidepressants	p. 47
Sensitivity	p. 67
Stress	p. 108
Risk	p. 144
Formes Frustes: Low Self-Esteem	p. 197
Formes Frustes: Inhibition of Pleasure, Sluggishness of Thought	p. 223
The Message in the Capsule	p. 250
Violence	p. 301
Afterword to the 1997 edition	p. 315
Notes	p. 333
Acknowledgments	p. 397
Index	p. 400
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.