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The Antidepressant Era
When we stop at the pharmacy to pick up our Prozac, are we simply buying a drug? Or are we buying into a disease as well? The first complete account of the phenomenon of antidepressants, this authoritative, highly readable book relates how depression, a disease only recently deemed too rare to merit study, has become one of the most common disorders of our day--and a booming business to boot.
The Antidepressant Era chronicles the history of psychopharmacology from its inception with the discovery of chlorpromazine in 1951 to current battles over whether these powerful chemical compounds should replace psychotherapy. An expert in both the history and the science of neurochemistry and psychopharmacology, David Healy offers a close-up perspective on early research and clinical trials, the stumbling and successes that have made Prozac and Zoloft household names. The complex story he tells, against a backdrop of changing ideas about medicine, details the origins of the pharmaceutical industry, the pressures for regulation of drug companies, and the emergence of the idea of a depressive disease. This historical and neurochemical analysis leads to a clear look at what antidepressants reveal about both the workings of the brain and the sociology of drug marketing.
Most arresting is Healy's insight into the marketing of antidepressants and the medicalization of the neuroses. Demonstrating that pharmaceutical companies are as much in the business of selling psychiatric diagnoses as of selling psychotropic drugs, he raises disturbing questions about how much of medical science is governed by financial interest.
The Antidepressant Era chronicles the history of psychopharmacology from its inception with the discovery of chlorpromazine in 1951 to current battles over whether these powerful chemical compounds should replace psychotherapy. An expert in both the history and the science of neurochemistry and psychopharmacology, David Healy offers a close-up perspective on early research and clinical trials, the stumbling and successes that have made Prozac and Zoloft household names. The complex story he tells, against a backdrop of changing ideas about medicine, details the origins of the pharmaceutical industry, the pressures for regulation of drug companies, and the emergence of the idea of a depressive disease. This historical and neurochemical analysis leads to a clear look at what antidepressants reveal about both the workings of the brain and the sociology of drug marketing.
Most arresting is Healy's insight into the marketing of antidepressants and the medicalization of the neuroses. Demonstrating that pharmaceutical companies are as much in the business of selling psychiatric diagnoses as of selling psychotropic drugs, he raises disturbing questions about how much of medical science is governed by financial interest.
330 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 1998
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About the author
David Healy
74 books31 followersDavid Healy is a former secretary of the British Association for Psychopharmacology and author of over 120 articles and 12 books, including The Antidepressant Era and The Creation of Psychopharmacology.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 2, 2016
The Anti-depressant Era seeks to answer this question: When we stop at the pharmacy to pick up our Prozac, are we simply buying a drug? Or are we buying into a disease as well? Overwhelmingly the answer seems to be yes.
The whole concept of marketing depression as a disease and then designing drugs to fit is one that few on us have considered, even fewer when this book was written in the late 90’s. The idea of the designed drug rather than the discovered drug is very helpful.
David Healy gives the reader a historical account of the development of antidepressants. A word of warning here, this historical account is thorough but it makes for tough sledding at times, several times. But, by telling us the facts, it illuminates the degree to which the field of psychiatry has been overrun by pharmaceutical corporate brainwashing.
There are several books written after 2006 that make the case better & in a more readable way, however this gives the one who is interested the ground level nuts & bolts of how things have gone in this field since the use of chlorpromazine began in 1952.
The whole concept of marketing depression as a disease and then designing drugs to fit is one that few on us have considered, even fewer when this book was written in the late 90’s. The idea of the designed drug rather than the discovered drug is very helpful.
David Healy gives the reader a historical account of the development of antidepressants. A word of warning here, this historical account is thorough but it makes for tough sledding at times, several times. But, by telling us the facts, it illuminates the degree to which the field of psychiatry has been overrun by pharmaceutical corporate brainwashing.
There are several books written after 2006 that make the case better & in a more readable way, however this gives the one who is interested the ground level nuts & bolts of how things have gone in this field since the use of chlorpromazine began in 1952.
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April 21, 2015I won't rate this one because I lost interest. I came back to it multiple times over months, but finally realized I just didn't care about all the minutiae of the history of the pharmaceutical industry. If you're interested in that, he goes into GREAT detail.
February 23, 2010
While I like Healy's "The Creation of Psychopharmacology" better, this sets up nicely his arguments about anti-depressants, drug companies, and shifts in psychiatry nicely.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews