WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE TAKE PROZAC?
Prozac is a member of a new class of antidepressants with a different mechanism of action than previous antidepressant drugs. Although equal to past antidepressants in effectiveness, it is uniquely not lethal in overdose, nor is it toxic to the cardiovascular system compared to the older drugs. It is also easier to take, since its side effects are so much milder.
A lot of patients walk in asking for Prozac, whether they need it or not Prozac has received more publicity than any other previously used psychiatric drug in America and abroad, and this unprecedented media attention has helped catapult Prozac to its current level of popularity. Seldom in the past did anyone I met at a dinner party question me about Tofranil or Nardil (although they did ask many times about lithium when its effectiveness as a treatment for manic depression first became known to the media). Now people ask about Prozac. Unlike other drugs, many of which are equally effective, Prozac has become a well-known, frequently requested remedy. Just as the most medically untutored know that a headache can be cured with aspirin, people who feel a little down today or want a personality “lift” are quick to discover that friends, family and the local GP have a single recommendation: Prozac. Sad to say, the media have oversold Prozac to the general public and to psychiatrists and other doctors. In my experience and in the experience of many of America’s leading psychopharmacologists, the myth of Prozac’s ability to cause a total personality metamorphosis has, more often than not, led to disappointment
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