Millions of Americans are on it to treat everything from serious depression to shyness, obesity, PMS, and back pain. They've been told it has few, or no, side effects. But what is the dark side of Prozac? Has the FDA told you everything it knows about the drug's potentially dangerous side effects? What essential facts must you have if you are already taking Prozac, or are considering taking it? Find out:

-What Prozac's label won't tell you
-The truth about serious and life-threatening reactions
-Cases of sexual dysfunction from Prozac, particularly in men
-If Prozac can lead to violence, murder, or suicide
-The panic and anxiety Prozac can cause-not cure
-What Prozac has in common with cocaine and amphetamines

Amazon.com Review
Are you one of the thousands of Americans "listening to Prozac"? Chances are you at least know someone who is. It's time to take a closer look at this supposedly "safe" drug. Peter Breggin picks through the studies used to justify Prozac's safety, often uncovering flaws and shoddy science. He details the FDA approval process, including who on the panel was paid by whom. The key players and the details will surprise you.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 34 reviews)

Prozac Peril !

A little old, but really a profound book. Yes, SSRIs can help - but they are no panacea. There are ALWAYS major side effects for man made pharmaceuticals.
November 04, 2008

Big Pharma quackery

Peter Breggin has done the world a favor by exposing the fraud and profit motives of the $20 billion dollar anti-depressant industry. Instead of respecting natural feelings over a wide-array of societal problems, people are instead being encouraged by corporate shamans to take the dope they push. Interestingly, the sellers of these drugs are free to make a fortune while cannabis sellers are put into prisons, and often prescribed the corporate drugs while they are incarcerated! I imagine that if Eli Lilly held a patent on marijuana, we'd see ads promoting pot use on tv tomorrow.
If people find some relief from Prozac, more power to them; but drug companies have applied marketing skills where what's more often needed is skilled therapy. ("New Dimensions Broadcasting" provides weekly interviews with healers that don't require manipulations of our brain chemistry). Predictably, drug-free approaches to mental health are given short shrift by Big Pharma. Everything from changes in diet, altered media consumption, meditation, political empowerment, community involvement and much else can provide the peace of mind so many are longing for in this maddening world. There's even a book that suggests philosophy could be used to think through our mental dis-ease ("Plato, Not Prozac"). I've purchased several copies of "Talking Back to Prozac" to share with people who are questioning the wisdom of taking powerful psychoactives, or putting their kids on them.

The work of Breggin and a growing number of Big Pharma critics came to mind when I read this headline from the March 9, 2006 issue of the satirical newspaper, "The Onion": Wonder Drug Inspires Deep, Unwavering Love of Pharmaceutical Companies. The story reads - "The Food and Drug Administration today approved the sale of the drug PharmAmorin, a prescription tablet developed by Pfizer to treat chronic distrust of large prescription-drug manufacturers. Pfizer executives characterized the FDA's approval as a 'godsend' for sufferers of independent-thinking-related mental health disorders. 'Many individuals lack the deep, abiding affection for drug makers that is found in healthy people, such as myself,' Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnel said. "These tragic disorders are reaching epidemic levels, and as a company dedicated to promoting the health, well-being, and long life of our company's public image, it was imperative that we did something to combat them.'"
March 14, 2006

An excellent book if you are uninformed about the downsides

This is a classic only because Peter Breggin does his homework. I am a biased reader because I am a Naturopathic physician who treats depression with homeopathic medicine (a far superior solution to drugs).

But my bias aside, I think the book has great merit because Breggin really raises good and sound questions about the so called science behind antidepressants. He makes the process of getting a drug passed explicit and shows how corrupt the process is. In addition, the often difficult process of getting questionable drugs off the market is explained. A process that is often at the expense of the patient and to the benefit of Big Pharma.

Breggin is not so great about coming up with solutions however. Deep longstanding depression is not always amenable to psychotherapy. At least those are a lot of the patients that I'm referred. People who have tried many things without success - therapy, counseling, drugs, etc.

I see homeopathy work with many, though of course not all, of these intractable cases. There must be other effective natural means to help people resolve deep seated depression as well. So this, in my mind is the major weakness in Breggin's books, he is not looking past his own nose about solutions.

Clearly drugs are not a true solution, but counseling on its own is often not enough either. Besides going to see a skilled homeopath (not so easy to find), people have also mentioned dietary changes, community support, friends, family, and other methods as being helpful. So that would be what would fill this book out and make it complete.
August 26, 2004

Breggin is courageous and right on

The negative reviews call Breggin unscientific, fear mongering, etc., but Breggin was just ahead of his time. In the past year, English regulators have warned against SSRI use (except Prozac)in youths and adolescents, basically due to the dangers Breggin warns of in this book. Recent headlines in the U.S. report the FDA is also recommending similar warnings about agitation and suicidality resulting from use of SSRI's in children and adults.A 2004 network evening news headline story recounted how a senior FDA scientist recently reviewed SSRI trials and concluded that suicidal ideation occurred twice as often in the SSRI group as in the placebo group (and then the FDA tried to suppress the public revelation of the conclusions of their own scientist).

The truth is the drug companies knew from the start that SSRI's pose serious dangers of agitation, akathisia and suicidality. It's been years since anyone on the inside seriously believed the Serotonin imbalance theory of depression. This information has been available all along and was deliberately suppressed by the drug companies. Now, ten years later, people are beginning to wake up, acting as though this is brand new news.

Go online to Prevention and Treatment, Volume 5, articles 22 through 32, published by the American Psychological Association, for extensive discussion of the fact that the FDA trials barely showed any difference between the SSRI's and placebo.

Better still, read Let them Eat Prozac, by David Healy, soon to be available in the U.S. Healy is a total psychiatric insider, an SSRI researcher and perhaps the world's leading authority on the history of the development of SSRI's. He's not an anti-psychiatrist. He's just pro-truth. He cites chapter and verse, and his conclusions are basically the same as Breggin's.

The negative reviewers simply miss the mark. To judge the value of Breggin's books, you need do one thing: List his specific factual claims, and then try to find in mainstream psychiatric literature any attempt to rebut those specific claims, point by point.

Not "he's dangerous," or "he's a zealot," or "he's unscientific," but actually point for point. For instance, Breggin charges that many Prozac patients in the FDA trials were also put on Benzodiazepines because Prozac alone made them so agitated they couldn't sleep. Look for mainstream psychiatry to a) state whether Breggin's claim is actually true, b) explain why that isn't a serious comment on Prozac, and c) answer Breggin's claim that where Benzo's were used, if the patients on Benzo's were excluded, the Prozac group was no more effective than placebo.

Healy makes many of the same specific points, and more. He exposes the systematic way the drug companies distorted their research and saw to it that both the scientific literature and popular promotional material contained the same distortions.

Breggin was right, and his critics, who accuse him of being shrill and unscientific, are describing themselves more than they describe Breggin.
April 03, 2004

Shameless fear-mongering...

The review of another reviewer here says it all -- This book (and many others like it) prey on the fears of the ignorant masses, who know nothing about psychology, psychiatry, medicine or science. A few already on the drug who read this may go off it, with potentially negative results -- for example, it's easy to "placebo effect" oneself into anything (including severe withdrawal symptoms one otherwise wouldn't have) after being scared to death by trashy books like this. Thankfully, its target audience consists mostly of "survivors" who had negative experiences (possibly caused by their mental issues rather than the drug) and who read this kind of crap to feel vindicated.

In the previous review I referred to, the person says: "Prozac is known to harm the brain and the body. Listed side-effects reported included: Heart Attack, Bronchitis, Impotence, Pneumonia, Hair loss, Deafness, Cataracts, Duodenal ulcers, Kidney disorders, Stomach ulcers, Hepatitis, Gallstones, Arthritis, Pelvic pain, Breast cysts, Uncontrolled bowel movements, Breast pain..."

It is obvious that this person (and maybe even Breggin!) doesn't understand how to interpret reported side effects of a medication (clue: listed side effects include *all things that happened to anyone for any reason while taking the drug*). It's really sad when this kind of one-sided sensationalism becomes "holy gospel" for the ignorant and agenda-driven, who then proceed to close their minds, turn off their critical thinking facilities and refuse to investigate further. But of course we're already aware that Breggin is "preaching to the choir" here, and that this kind of sensationalist trash is what sells books these days. A real impartial, scientific view? Sadly, one's choices are probably limited to classroom textbooks anymore.

A few have stated that Breggin really cares for people -- how the hell do they know? If he cared, why doesn't he offer an impartial viewpoint with proofs so people can judge for themselves? Undoubtedly big pharma is "evil" (i.e. purely in it for the money) but given that Breggin is profiting bigtime off the fear generated from his books, what does that make him?

A final question for Breggin's congregation: Why didn't he just release all this information on the Net freely to the public if he's such a great guy doing his best to save lives?
February 26, 2004

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The Anti-Depressant Fact Book: What Your Doctor Won't Tell You About Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, and Luvox
by Peter R. Breggin

Listening to Prozac: The Landmark Book About Antidepressants and the Remaking of the Self, Revised Edition
by Peter D. Kramer

Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock, and Biochemical Theories of the "New Psychiatry"
by Peter Breggin

Prozac Backlash: Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Other Antidepressants with Safe, Effective Alternatives
by Joseph Glenmullen

Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs
by Peter R. Breggin, David Cohen