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Recommended Books on Prozac
Peanut Butter, Playdates & Prozac: Tales from a Modern Mom A collection of humorous essays, parodies, anecdotes and even a sing-along about life as a 21st Century mom. From reality television and iPods to Lunchables, over-the-top Halloween celebrations and Starbucks addictions, Peanut Butter, Playdates & Prozac is a hysterical look at the lifestyle choices so many moms today have embraced.
Natural Alternatives (p Rozac) to Prozac Though millions of depressed Americans take Prozac safely and successully, many others suffer uncomfortable or even dangerous side effects. But they needn't despair: In this comprehensive guide to relieving depression without pharmaceuticals, Michael Murray, N.D., explains the disorder itself and various exacerbating factors, including tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine; lists a range of new treatments known to produce the theraputic effects of Prozac, from St. John's Wort and Ginkgo Biloba extract to exercise programs and guided imagery, as well as the pros and cons of the much-touted "miracle drug" melatonin. Filled with detailed, practical information, this is a useful resource for anyone seeking an alternative to Prozac.
Prozac-Free In Prozac Free, homeopathic physicians Dr. Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Dr. Robert Ullman offer compelling reasons for considering the homeopathic approach as an alternative to taking conventional antidepressants. The authors discuss the serious side effects of these drugs and their failure to treat the underlying causes of depression, anxiety, and other mental and emotional problems. Using case histories from their own practice, they demonstrate the long-term success rate of homeopathic remedies and the advantages of homeopathic treatment.
The Natural Prozac Program: How to Use St. John's Wort, the Anti-Depressant Herb The herb St. John's Wort, or Hypericum perforatum, has received a huge amount of press coverage for reportedly being a pick-me-up with few side effects, leading thousands of people who suspect they may be depressed to take it and see what happens. There are several problems with this approach: Some of these people may have serious mood disorders that require treatment by a mental-health professional, while others may be depressed due to underlying psychological distress that could be better treated with therapy. Still others may use the herb incorrectly, since "natural" products such as this come in a variety of potencies and with differing package instructions. So while you should see a physician, psychologist, or qualified herbalist before taking St. John's Wort, if you don't, you should at least consult an informative book, of which The Natural Prozac Program is a perfect example. Zuess is a full-blown advocate of the herb, touting it as a treatment for everything from insomnia and anxiety to influenza. But he also provides important advice on such topics as when not to take St. John's Wort; how some foods, medications, and nutritional supplements may interact with the herb; what to look for when purchasing it; and how to take it so it's most effective. In keeping with his holistic approach, he even describes how to grow your own."This little book not only offers an elegant therapeutic tool for a common problem, it also serves as a prototype for a more humane and enlightened way of dealing with health and illness that is both new and ancient. "
Rudolph Ballentine, M.D.,
author of Diet and Nutrition: A Holistic Approach
Mild and moderate depression affects millions of Americans. If you suffer from depression yet feel uneasy about taking prescription drugs, or if you are currently taking one like Prozac, you should know about St. John's wort, the natural alternative. This book details how to use this powerful yet gentle herb, which has been proven in clinical tests to relieve mild and moderate depression with fewer side effects (and at a lesser cost) than any prescription antidepressant. St. John's wort does not cause drowsiness, interact with alcohol, or interfere with one's ability to concentrate or dream, as do some prescription drugs. In fact, St. John's wort has been shown to enhance the brain's problem-solving capabilities. Nature's medicine, St. John's wort nurtures the mind-body's own healing response instead of suppressing it, as do the harsher drugs made in laboratories.
Known to traditional herbalists for centuries, St. John's wort is currently prescribed to millions of Europeans and has been the subject of numerous clinical trials in Great Britain. Americans are just beginning to realize the efficacy of this natural antidepressant, which is widely available at health food stores and by mail order. With simple instructions on dosages and who should and should not take the herb, this book tells you everything you need to know about St. John's wort in order to use it safely and effectively.
Prozac Diary When the author began taking Prozac in 1988 she was 26 and had already struggled for over a decade with hospitalizations, suicide attempts, anorexia, and self-mutilation resulting from a variety of mental illnesses, obsessive-compulsive disorder the most recent among them. The newly released drug liberated her from debilitating anxiety and pain even as it raised unsettling questions about her own identity, as she had always been defined by her afflictions. "The world as I had known it my whole life did not seem to exist," writes Slater in a characteristically incisive sentence. She was happier, but she found it difficult to write without the inner voices that had sparked her fevered creativity; even the philosophy books she had once loved now seemed irrelevant to her newly healthy state. With utter candor (even about her dampened sexuality) and a surprising amount of humor, Slater chronicles the ups and downs of life on Prozac. A nightmarish relapse when the dosage suddenly proves inadequate ("Prozac poop-out") ultimately helps her discover inner resources to combat her illness in conjunction with the medication. She finds new love and a better understanding of her past; she avoids the equally unrealistic extremes of Prozac boosters who ignore the drug's costs and doomsayers who depict it creating a generation of zombies. Slater's balanced final assessment is voiced, as usual, in exact, lyrical prose: "This is Prozac's burden and gift, keeping me alive to the most human of questions, bringing me forward, bringing me back, swaddling and unswaddling me, pushing me to ask which wrappings are real." --Wendy SmithA dazzling and powerful account of a life profoundly altered by Prozac-- "surely among the best on the long-term effects of the drug" (The New York Times)
In 1988, at age 26, Lauren Slater lived alone in a basement apartment in Cambridge, depressed, suicidal, unemployed. Ten years later, she is a psychologist running her own clinic, an award-winning writer, and happily married. The transformation in her life was brought about by Prozac. Prozac Diary is Lauren Slater's incisive account of a life restored to productivity, creativity, and love. When she wakes up one morning and finds that her demons no longer have a hold on her, Slater struggles with the strange state of being well after a lifetime of craziness. Yet this is no hymn to a miracle pharmaceutical. It is a frankly ambivalent quest for the truth of self behind an ongoing reliance on a drug. Slater also addresses Prozac's notorious "poop-out" effect and its devastating attack on her libido. This is the first memoir to reflect on long-term Prozac use, and reviewers agree that no one has written about Prozac with such beauty, honesty, and insight.
* 12 million Americans take Prozac regularly
* Prozac Diary appeared on the Boston Globe and Independent bestseller lists
* Penguin Readers Guide Bound into Every Book
"Powerful. . . . The chemistry of Prozac Diary is beautiful." --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York TimesThe author of the acclaimed Welcome to My Country describes inthis provocative and funny memoir the ups and downs of living on Prozacfor ten years, and the strange adjustments she had to make to living"normal life."
Today millions of people take Prozac, but Lauren Slater was one of thefirst. In this rich and beautifully written memoir, she describes whatit's like to spend most of your life feeling crazy -- and then to wakeup one day and find yourself in the strange state of feeling well. Andthen to face the challenge of creating a whole new life. Once inhibited,Slater becomes spontaneous. Once terrified of maintaining a job, sheaccepts a teaching position and ultimately earns several degrees inpsychology. Once lonely, she finds love with a man who adores her.Slater is wonderfully thoughtful and articulate about all these changes,and also about the downside of taking Prozac: such matters asdependency, sexual dysfunction, and Prozac "poop-out." "The beauty of Lauren Slater's prose is shocking," said Newsdayabout Welcome to My Country, and Slater's remarkable gifts as awriter are present here in sentences that are like elegant darts,hitting at the center of the deepest human feelings. Prozac Diaryis a wonderfully written report from inside a decade on Prozac, and anoriginal writer's acute observations on the challenges of living modernlife.
Beyond Prozac: Antidotes for Modern Times Do you find that you don't handle stress well and are frequently irritable?
Did you know the much-publicized low-fat/high-carbohydrate diet of recent years may actually be making you depressed and overweight? And what are the hidden dangers of sleep loss and irregular schedules? In Beyond Prozac, Dr. Michael Norden, a psychiatrist and pioneer in developing new applications of Prozac, explains how the toll of modern-day life has undermined our health and led to a national epidemic of depression, anxiety and weight problems. But there is hope. Based on seven years of groundbreaking research and clinical work, Beyond Prozac offers solutions to these chronic health problems that go beyond simply prescribing Prozac from incredibly effective alternative treatments such as light therapy, regulation of sleeping habits, and specialized diets to the next generation of safer and more effective depression medications. A decisive voice in the debate about depression, Beyond Prozac is a provocative and enduring classic in the modern literature about mental health. Now revised and expanded to include the latest new information and research, Beyond Prozac gives you the inside scoop on: - Powerful new antidepressants: Serzone, Wellbutrin and Remeron
- The surprising relationship between weather, brain chemistry and behavior
- New studies hinting that low serotonin is the norm, not the exception, and what this means for those seeking treatment
- What melatonin really can and can't do
- Depression, health and "The Zone" diet
- The latest all-natural treatments for depression: DHEA and St. John's wort
- Updates on Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox and more!
Prozac on the Couch: Prescribing Gender in the Era of Wonder Drugs Psychiatrist and women’s studies scholar Jonathan Michel Metzl shows that there’s a lot of Dr. Freud encapsulated in late-twentieth-century psychotropic medications. Metzl provides a cultural history of psychiatric âwonder drugsâ from the 1950s to the early twenty-first century. In tracing a lineage from Miltown to Valium to Prozac, he uncovers the surprising ways that Freudian gender categories and popular gender roles continue to shape understandings depression and its treatments.
âProzac on the Couch is a creative, intelligent, and provocative challenge to the notion that biologic psychiatry has replaced psychoanalysis as the dominant therapeutic model in psychiatry.ââDelese Wear, New England Journal of Medicine
âFull of genuinely fascinating observations. . . . Prozac on the Couch is a thought-provoking and useful book.ââLisa Jervis, Bitch
âProzac on the Couch is a totally fresh and mind-altering work of medical history and cultural criticism that challenges us to think about psychiatric medications in ways that are both uncomfortable and inspiring: in other words, in ways that challenge us to change our points of view about what we swallow and why.ââLauren Slater, author of Prozac Diary
âJonathan Michel Metzl’s book is an original and insightful exploration of the lively cultural meanings he locates in the spaces between the person, the psychotropic drug, the physician, and the neuroscientist.ââEmily Martin, author of The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction
âProzac on the Couch combines a bold thesis regarding the persistence of Freudian categories of sexual difference amid the paradigm shift in psychiatry, documentation spanning professional and popular discourses, and lively, clear prose.ââMari Jo Buhle, author of Feminism and Its Discontents: A Century of Struggle with Psychoanalysis
Talking Back To Prozac: What Doctors Aren't Telling You About Today's Most Controversial Drug 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.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 youThe truth about serious and life-threatening reactionsCases of sexual dysfunction from Prozac, particularly in menIf Prozac can lead to violence, murder, or suicideThe panic and anxiety Prozac can cause-not cureWhat Prozac has in common with cocaine and amphetamines
Plato, Not Prozac!: Applying Eternal Wisdom to Everyday Problems
If you're facing a dilemma -- whether it's handling a relationship, living ethically, dealing with a career change, or finding meaning in life -- the world's most important thinkers from centuries past will help guide you toward a solution compatible with your individual beliefs. From Kirkegaard's thoughts on coping with death to the I Ching's guidelines on adapting to change, Plato, Not Prozac! makes philosophy accessible and shows you how to use it to solve your everyday problems. Gone is the need for expensive therapists, medication, and lengthy analysis. Clearly organized by common problems to help you tailor Dr. Lou Marinoff's advice to your own needs, this is an intelligent, effective, and persuasive prescription for self-healing therapy that is giving psychotherapy a run for its money.
Better than Prozac: Creating the Next Generation of Psychiatric Drugs Every day millions of people take psychiatric drugs. In Better Than Prozac Samuel Barondes considers the benefits and limitations of Prozac, Ritalin, Valium, Risperdal, and other widely used medications and the ways that superior ones are being created.
In tracing the early history of these drugs Barondes describes the accidental observations that led to their discovery and their great impact on our view of mental illness. He goes on to show how their unexpected therapeutic effects were attributed to their influence on neurotransmitters that
carry signals in the brain and how this guided their improvement.
But Barondes reminds us that, like the originals, current psychiatric drugs don't always work, and often have negative side effects. Furthermore, none were crafted as remedies for known brain abnormalities. In contrast, the design of the drugs of the future will be based on a different
approach: an understanding of the molecular mechanisms that give rise to specific patterns of mental symptoms. Using colorful examples of contemporary research, he shows how it is gradually leading to a new generation of psychiatric medications.
A lucid evaluation of psychopharmacology, Better Than Prozac offers a deep understanding of psychiatric drugs for people who take them, those who are considering them, and those who are just fascinated by the powerful effects of these simple chemicals on our thoughts and our feelings.
© 2004-2008 Prozac Research Today. All Rights Reserved.
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