Listening to Prozac, Peter D. Kramer
Listening to Prozac, Peter D. Kramer
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Listening to Prozac

Author: Peter D. Kramer

Narrator: Peter D. Kramer

Abridged: 2 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/01/1994


Synopsis

THE END OF PERSONALITY?

Since it was introduce in 1987, the antidepressant Prozac has been prescribed to nearly five million Americans. But what is Prozac? Reported to turn shy people into social butterflies and to improve work performance, memory, even dexterity, Prozac has changed millions of troubled lives -- but not without raising troubling questions of interest to anyone who has ever tried to improve his or her life.

Is Prozac a medication, or a mental steroid...a cure for illness, or a chemical agent for cosmetic character change? In many cases, Prozac can make people more attractive, energetic and socially acceptable -- whether they're "ill" or not. But when a pill can appear to accomplish the work of countless therapy sessions, seminars and self-help books and tapes, have we entered an age where pharmacological advances could make our notions of character, personality and selfhood obsolete?

In the bestselling tradition of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for His Hat, psychiatrist Peter Kramer reads his bestselling, critically acclaimed exploration of these and other issues that sparked a national debate. Drawing on both dramatic case studies and the perceptions of a uniquely insightful thinker contemplating a cultural crossroads, Listening to Prozac will forever change the way you think of the human condition.

About Peter D. Kramer

Peter D. Kramer is a psychiatrist and faculty member of Brown Medical School specializing in the area of clinical depression


Reviews

Goodreads review by Patrick on August 22, 2013

In desperate need of a cognitive scientist JDB 2456527 PDT 10:52. A review of Listening to Prozac by Peter D. Kramer. This was a book with great potential, but it failed to live up to most of that potential. The fundamental idea is a profound one that I wish more people would think about: What does cog......more

Goodreads review by Kirsten on February 22, 2008

This excellent book, written when Prozac and other SSRI antidepressants were relatively new, is at times a little dated but still extremely interesting. Kramer is a phsychiatrist who had been treating patients with depression and other problems for years when Prozac became available. Prozac did not......more

Goodreads review by Ann on December 07, 2011

An interesting exploration of how drugs like Prozac change personality in some patients (making shy people not shy in some cases) and how human beings are biological creatures who can be changed by chemistry. Most interesting for me (since the book may be some what dated science wise) were the passa......more

Goodreads review by Bryce on July 24, 2016

I appreciate the depth to which Kramer dove into the ethical questions surrounding Prozac and other "anti-depressants" (he deconstructs this term in order to explain these drugs without preconceived notions). While it wasn't the easiest read (many detailed case studies and scientific terms), he does......more

Goodreads review by Grady on October 11, 2019

Dr. Peter D. Kramer doesn't know how Prozac works, or even exactly what it does, and he's not 100% sure it doesn't have any side effects, but he really, really, really thinks you should be taking it.......more