[.ca] Prozac Backlash: Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, ... (ISBN 0743200624)

From Amazon.com:
It seems like it was just yesterday that Prozac was a miracle pill, a medication that could not only make sick people well, but "better than well." By the end of the 1990s, Prozac and similar drugs--Paxil, Zoloft, and others--were being prescribed for everything from depression to anxiety to drug addiction to ADD. About 70 percent of prescriptions for these antidepressants were being written by family physicians, rather than psychiatrists. Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, a psychiatrist who has a private practice and also works for Harvard University Health Services, sees this antidepressant mania as dangerous, even reckless. He notes that these drugs can have severe side effects, including uncontrollable facial and body tics, which could be signs of severe and permanent brain damage. About 50 percent of patients suffer often-debilitating withdrawal symptoms from them, and about 60 percent end up with sexual dysfunction. And Prozac may make a small number of people homicidal or suicidal, or both. But there are alternatives: in Germany, for example, St. John's wort outsells Prozac 25 to 1, showing that doctors and patients there understand that the herbal remedy works as well as the synthetic ones for mild to moderate depression. \oEditor's note: St. John's wort has been shown to interfere with the actions of the transplant rejection drug cyclosporin and the AIDS drug indinivir.\c And diet, exercise, 12-step programs, and good old-fashioned psychotherapy can work well, too. Even for severe depression requiring medication, Dr. Glenmullen shows how the drugs can be used with other treatments and then discontinued after a year or less. Moreover, Prozac Backlash discusses exactly what depression is and isn't; Dr. Glenmullen reviews hundreds of scientific studies, and discusses numerous case studies from his practice and others. Because of that detail, medical professionals may be this book's most likely readers, but anyone who has been on an antidepressant, or is close to someone who is, will also want to give Prozac Backlash a careful read. The brain you save could be your own. --Lou Schuler

Prozac Backlash, an astonishing expose of drug industry:
This book was a huge eye-opener for me. It makes me think not to trust AMA, FDA and especially not the drug companies. Anyone considering taking Prozac, Zoloft or any of the other psychiatric type drugs ought to at least get the other side of the story, that Eli Lilly apparently fought to suppress - I'd guess in the interests of making more profit. This book is a shocker. \o...\c Most horrible was the risk of permanent, disfiguring "tics" developed commonly after use of these types of drugs, the worst was the involuntary sticking out of tongue like a fly. After years of antidepressant use, many times these "tics", repeated involuntary (you can't stop them) movements become permanent. Also, this book gives evidence that evidence of side effect of suicidal thought process was suppressed by Eli Lilly (Sample factoid: book said in Europe they had to put this on side effects warning to get permission to sell it there). Everyone considering taking SSRI's or any other "anti-depressant" ought to read this book. I think it would save a lot of people a lot of grief, not to mention brain damage (my opinion - the book gives some pretty convincing evidence). Thanks, Amazon for oppt'y to add my 2 cents worth. Hope this helps someone out there.

a reader in Virginia:
Just want to put my two cents worth in. It doesn't matter what one reads about antidepressants, etc., but if SSRIs cause violence and suicide, it is very possible the people could be bipolar in a manic state and it's not the medication per se. There are plenty of prescription drugs out there to help. I tried so-called natural remedies and like diabetes, herbs will not help major depression or bipolar.

This Book is Ridiculous:
I was very surprised to learn that Dr. Glenmullen has such impressive credentials since his book is complete nonsense. SSRIs are the single most brilliant discovery of the past decades. In every country where they are widely prescribed suicide rates have plummeted. Most studies suggest that more than 2/3 of patients taking SSRIs see improvement within 6 weeks. What once was an incurable disease is now treatable. Dr. Glenmullen should look past trivial and anomalous detail and examine the bigger picture. I am not saying that you shouldn't buy this book. Indeed, it is always advisable to look at other points of view. However, make sure you read this knowing that this author's point of view is completely wrong.

FDA as Perfection:
The reader from The Upper Midwest concludes that because the FDA approved these drugs they are totally safe, and then proceeds to decry the authors use of anecdotal evidence as unscientific. He has almost stumbled on the true weakness of this book, and his own biased argument. The FDA does not provide the kind of long term studies required to determine if these drugs are overprescribed and create permanent brain-damage in a significant number of patients, and neither does this book. The book does make a good case for avoiding these drugs unless they are absolutely necessary. As for talk therapy, my anecdotal evidence shows as many people are screwed up by bad counseling as this book describes as being screwed up by drugs.

A totally worthless book:
Here we have a psychiatrist from Harvard, in the year 2004 telling us that major depression is not a disease and drugs are not required. In this ludicrous book, Glenmullen describes all sorts of side effects that will according to him, "ruin you." That is the most laughable thing Ive ever heard of. Glenmullen shouldnt even be allowed to be a psychiatrist. With his inclinations and thoughts concerning mental illness, he should have become a psychologist instead. I would discourage you from reading this piece of trash. Eric