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| View Larger Image | Listening to Prozac: The Landmark Book About Antidepressants and the Remaking of the Self, Revised Edition
by Peter D. Kramer
| | List Price: | $16.00 | | Price: | $10.88 | | You Save: | $5.12 (32%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 53245 | | Studio: | Penguin (Non-Classics) | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 448 | | Publication Date: | September 01, 1997 | | Publisher: | Penguin (Non-Classics) |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Amazon.com
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. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 31 reviews)
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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.
June 13, 2007 | |
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.
August 04, 2006 | |
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.
February 27, 2006 | |
Still the book of choice on subject of antidepressents and "Cosmetic Psychiatry"
This is another of those books that I have lent and given to many people dealing with mild to major mental illness and wondering what to do about it. This book gives the reader a better understanding of what ways the chemistry of the brain might manifest itself and shows case studies of what has worked for some people. The book discusses the morality of the use of medication in functioning adults. After all the years that have passed since the initial publication, I have yet to find a better or more reader friendly book on this important subject.
January 04, 2006 | |
Sort of like a Mahler Symphony 
This book reminded me of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.1 or Guns, Germs, And Steel by Jared Diamond: they all have something important and interesting and beautiful to say, but they could have said in much less space and time. Stretches of Mahler's music are sublime, other stretches are bombastic. Diamond's central theme is fascinating, but the details are redundant. And so, Kramer's idea is important, but was all that psychobabble necessary?
At first I was put off by Kramer's use of testimonials to develop his theme. I have a thing about the use of testimonial information to support one's argument. Still, I suppose it was deemed desirable to do so in order to bring the book down to the "popular" level. After a while I got used to it and continued to read because I could see he might be developing an important idea. Jared Diamond's book has the same problem: neither book could decide whether it was going to be "scientific" or "popular".
I'm glad I continued to read Listening To Prozac. The final chapter was sublime. A long time ago, I had read "Love in the Ruins" by Walker Percy and had been very impressed with it. I have now put "The Thanatos Syndrome" on my reading list. To anyone wishing to find out what Kramer is saying, I recommend reading the last chapter only.
To a pharmacologist, diagnosis by reaction to pharmacotherapy is nothing new. A migraine headache is a migraine headache if it responds to anti-migraine drugs. To a pharmacologist, all drugs have side-effects: the therapeutic objective defines what is side-effect and what is therapeutic. To a pharmacologist, all drugs are a double-edged sword. You take the good and the bad. And so it is with Prozac, but I loved the way Kramer described it. I just wish he had been quicker about it.
All in all, Listening To Prozac is an important book that will have the sort of impact Huxley's Brave New World had. I look forward to reading The Thanatos Syndrome and learning about Heavy Sodium.
But Jared and Kramer should stick to scientific essays. You see, three ingredients are necessary to be a good writer: you have to have something to say, you have to be able to write, and you have to be able to tell a good story. Eliot and Percy are good writers. Diamond and Kramer are not.
May 09, 2005 | |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
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