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Prozac Backlash : Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Other Antidepressants with Safe, Effective Alternatives 

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It seems like it was just yesterday that Prozac was a miracle pill, a medication that could not only make sick people well, but "better than well."

By the end of the 1990s, Prozac and similar drugs--Paxil, Zoloft, and others--were being prescribed for everything from depression to anxiety to drug addiction to ADD. About 70 percent of prescriptions for these antidepressants were being written by family physicians, rather than psychiatrists.

Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, a psychiatrist who has a private practice and also works for Harvard University Health Services, sees this antidepressant mania as dangerous, even reckless. He notes that these drugs can have severe side effects, including uncontrollable facial and body tics, which could be signs of severe and permanent brain damage. About 50 percent of patients suffer often-debilitating withdrawal symptoms from them, and about 60 percent end up with sexual dysfunction. And Prozac may make a small number of people homicidal or suicidal, or both.

But there are alternatives: in Germany, for example, St. John's wort outsells Prozac 25 to 1, showing that doctors and patients there understand that the herbal remedy works as well as the synthetic ones for mild to moderate depression. [Editor's note: St. John's wort has been shown to interfere with the actions of the transplant rejection drug cyclosporin and the AIDS drug indinivir.] And diet, exercise, 12-step programs, and good old-fashioned psychotherapy can work well, too. Even for severe depression requiring medication, Dr. Glenmullen shows how the drugs can be used with other treatments and then discontinued after a year or less.

Moreover, Prozac Backlash discusses exactly what depression is and isn't; Dr. Glenmullen reviews hundreds of scientific studies, and discusses numerous case studies from his practice and others. Because of that detail, medical professionals may be this book's most likely readers, but anyone who has been on an antidepressant, or is close to someone who is, will also want to give Prozac Backlash a careful read. The brain you save could be your own. --Lou Schuler

Beware the attempts to discredit this book: it's OK, May 25, 2000
Reviewer: A reader from Boston, MA
Unlike some of the critics of this book, I have actually read it. Moreover, I have Ph.D. in environmental science, and teach at an international public policy school.

I am disturbed by some of the comments made by other 'reviewers' that this book is not 'scientific' or that it is only 'anecdotal'. I believe these comments are attempts to discredit the book. After all, if you read the book you will see that there is much at stake here: the drug manufacturers are making a fortune from prescriptions of anti-depressant medication, yet the evidence is mounting almost daily as to their mis-use and side effects. Indeed, the book even describes a payment by one drug company in 1994 to a potential witness in a trial in order to avoid bad publicity. This book presents the evidence for questioning the value of the current belief in certain anti-depressants like Prozac and Zoloft. The book is loaded with references to internationally-regarded medical journals and researchers, and to available surveys on the potential side effects. If there is anything 'anecdotal' about the book, it is that it is written in a easy-to-read styles that actually reports on real-life stories (anonymized).

Furthermore, it is false to say the author advises that anti-depressants should not be used at all. He makes it very clear that they should be reserved for severe cases of depression. In my opinion, the interesting points he makes are that prescribing anti-depressants for cases of less-than severe depression (or similar conditions such as anxiety, etc) may actually create more problems than they solve. Such problems may include 'numbing' people to the feelings and processes that actually cause the depression; a variety of physical side-effects such as loss of sexual function; and even (in the worst cases) feelings that can even encourage suicide. It is not surprising that the medicine companies do not want people to respect this book. But it is clear that the book is not an outright rejection of any form of medication, but instead a more balanced approach that actually goes to the roots of problems, rather than just dealing with (apparent) symptoms.

If there is one aspect of the book I do have reservations about, it is that the descriptions of 'alternatives' to medication is merely an introduction to these subjects rather than a complete guide. There are a variety of alternatives mentioned, such as herbal remedies; psychotherapy; physical exercise etc etc. All of these are interesting and relevant. But I would think that anyone in the throes of a major depression or similar distress would want to read much more than what is available here (albeit, at well over 100 pages there is quite a lot of information). Of course, the book does not intend to be a 'self-help' guide to overcoming depression, and so perhaps it is unreasonable to suggest that it is short in this respect. It is best to be clear that the book's main intention is to review the evidence against the currently popular anti-depressants, and highlight where we should be looking instead. The book is highly successful in achieving this objective.
If you are taking prozac, zoloft, paxil or ritlin, you would be well advised to read this book. If you are interested in understanding how medical practices are manipulated by large drug-company interests, this book is a must. If you want to learn more about where to turn instead of simply taking medication, this book is an excellent introduction. But please, do not be put off by the negative comments of some 'reviewers', because their statements are inaccurate, and -- given the high stakes of the book -- their origin is suspect.

A Godsend, May 24, 2000
Reviewer: A reader from Maryland
This book has been so helpful to me and my family. I am deeply greatful to you Dr. Glenmullen for all the the valuable research and time you have put into this astounding book. I'm so happy people like you are standing up to these powerful drug companies, and I admire your courage. For anyone on any SSRI, anyone who knows anyone on any SSRI, or anyone who is debating going on an SSRI, I strongly suggest you read this amazing and eye-opening book.

Clearly this book is very valuable, May 23, 2000
Reviewer: A reader from Florida
This book is amazing! It's very informative and easily readable. It's astonishing all that's happening behind the scenes.

Excellent book. Fortifies the observations..., April 8, 2000
Reviewer: A reader from Blacksburg, VA
of many other concientious professionals who have been sensitive enough to be aware of the adverse effects that these latter-day circus snake oils and elixirs are having on a new generation psychiatric consumers.
A brand new generation of gullible pill takers is too young or illiterate to remember the same promises made by drug makers in earlier times, with their concordant disastrous physical consequences. People are now hopped up on compounds that have been created in the same pseudoscientific cauldrons that rationalized the unsound scientific practices that were used to promote turn-of-the-century and nineteen-forties era practices as treatments.

The golden age of seratonin--one of a handful of independently manipulable neurotransmitters out of hundreds--but enough to justify basing all treatment upon simply by virtue of its accessibility (and non-neurotransmitter brain structures be damned). Some science.

I highly recommend this book along with others by Peter Breggin.
Welcome to the Dark Ages.