Before Prozac: The Troubled History of Mood Disorders in Psychiatry
"Excellent...informative and intriguing..."--New England Journal of Medicine"...interesting and provocative..."--Doody's"...Before Prozacis a nuanced, timely, and provocative book written by an incisive thinker at the height of his considerable intellectual powers. Prof. Shorter's powerful arguments demonstrate clearly the value of historical perspectives when evaluating current medical practices, and serve as a sobering reminder of the transitory nature of many psychiatric treatments and, indeed, psychiatric categorisations."--Irish Medical News"I saw a patient not long ago with quite paralysing long-term periods of anxiety associated with depression and despair accompanied by suicidal thoughts... If I saw him now I would recommend Shorter's illuminatingBefore Prozacso he would have the full inside story."--The Lancet"...engagingly written and informative."--PsycCRITIQUES"Writing in a lively, exciting style packed with historical facts, Shorter brings to life the process of psychiatric drug discovery and development, enriching the fabric of his narrative wtih details about the persons involved....the book is a lot of fun to read."--The Journal of ClinicalInvestigation"Shorter, a prolific medical historian, provides a detailed, lively history of what has been called the 'first set' of psychotropic drugs...the antipsychotics, anxiolytics, and antidepressants that showed up in the 1950s...It is a compellingly argued and erudite polemic..." --American Journal ofPsychiatry