A controversial message, alarming for SSRI-takers and anathema to SSRI-makers, but bound to please his fellow talk...
A psychiatrist cites research and his own clinical experience to sound a compelling warning about the hazards of selective
serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants. Glenmullen (The Pornographer's Grief and Other Tales of Human Sexuality,1993), a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, uses the term “Prozac backlash” to describe the brain's reaction to changes in serotonin levels brought about by SSRIs such as Prozac. These reactions are, he believes, responsible for serious neurological side effects such as tics, agitation, muscle spasms, and parkinsonism. Other drawbacks of SSRIs cited by Glenmullen are disturbing withdrawal symptoms, drug dependence, sexual dysfunction, and an association with violence and suicide. While acknowledging they have short-term value for symptomatic relief, Glenmullen asserts that some 75 percent of patients are on SSRIs needlessly. He argues vehemently against their casual, long-term use and demands better monitoring of patients. He explores (and deplores) the influence of cost-conscious HMOs, psychopharmacology's application of a biological model to psychological syndromes, and the power of the pharmaceutical industry on the increase in the use of SSRIs. Using patients' stories from his own practice, he illustrates both the dangers of long-term SSRIs use and the benefits of alternative approaches. Numerous case studies demonstrate his success in treating patients suffering from anxiety, depression, addictions, and eating disorders using psychotherapy of various kinds—cognitive, behavioral, twelve-step, group, individual, family, or couple—sometimes in combination with herbal remedies such as St. John's wort, kava, or valerian, and when necessary with Valium-type drugs. Glenmullen concludes by calling for more research on the neurotoxicity of SSRIs, better warnings to doctors and patients about their potential side effects, curbs on excessive promotion of these drugs, and closer scrutiny of their use with children.
A controversial message, alarming for SSRI-takers and anathema to SSRI-makers, but bound to please his fellow talk therapists.Pub Date: April 5, 2000
ISBN: 0-684-86001-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
Eight brief chronicles of medical detection by the late RouechÇ (Sea to Shining Sea, 1986, etc.), whose ``Annals of Medicine'' pieces in the New Yorker established him as a master of the genre. Readers familiar with RouechÇ's work will know just what to expect here and will not be disappointed. Patients' identities are concealed, but the doctors are identified, and RouechÇ's style of quoting them at length gives his accounts authenticity and immediacy. What's remarkable is the variety of cases he explores. In the title story, the puzzle to be solved is the sudden growth of breasts in a male patient in his 70s. Surprisingly, it is the patient's wife, not his doctor, who comes up with the solution. ``The Dinosaur Collection'' features a case of Munchausen's Syndrome (the faking of illness), the twist here being that the deception is perpetrated not by the patient but by his mother. ``Cinnabar'' and ``A Good Safe Tan'' deal with the known and unknown poisons in our midst. The first features an artist repairing an ancient tapestry, and the second, a young girl who consumes what she believes is a harmless vegetable dye in the hopes of acquiring a glorious tan. Vanity also comes into play in ``Hoping,'' in which a young woman's desire for slim thighs leads her to a hospital emergency room. A doctor working in a little-known specialty, the medical problems of musicians, is the chief sleuth in ``Overdoing It.'' ``The Poker Room'' is a classic RouechÇ detection piece involving an outbreak of Q fever, a long-running poker game, and a litter of kittens. The final piece, ``Hoofbeats of a Zebra,'' demonstrates that sometimes when one hears hoofbeats, it is not the common horse that should be expected, but the uncommon zebra, i.e., the rare disease. A great treat for fans of medical lore.
Pub Date: May 15, 1995
ISBN: 0-525-93934-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
A moving personal narrative about a family confronting Huntington's disease, interwoven with a journalistic account of the biomedical research that found the gene responsible and may one day find the cure. In 1968, Wexler's mother was diagnosed with Huntington's disease, a devastating neurological illness that often leads to madness and is always fatal. Historian Wexler (Occidental College; Emma Goldman, 1984) then learned that she and her sister, Nancy, each had a 50 percent chance of inheriting the disease from their mother. While Wexler's father organized the Hereditary Disease Foundation to support Huntington's research, and her sister became a researcher, Wexler felt shame over her failure to get as actively involved. She reports that her own diary, one ``obsessed with self-analysis,'' rarely mentioned Huntington's and then only in connection with her mother, never with herself. For years, the family watched Wexler's mother's progressive deterioration, and the daughters watched themselves for symptoms. A research breakthrough in 1983 led to a predictive test that could identify those who would develop the illness years before any symptoms appeared. In the most gripping part of the book, Wexler describes her feelings about living with uncertainty and her decision not to take the test. The research story, which makes up a large portion of the book, is less compelling than the personal one, but the account of fieldwork in a village in Venezuela where nearly every family has members with Huntington's is fascinating. Wexler is at her best when writing about human beings. At one point she speaks of her sister as having ``the insight of a woman at risk, who understands emotionally as well as intellectually the tremendous costs of this illness.'' The same may be said of Wexler. A revealing memoir that tells as much about living at risk as it does about Huntington's.
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-8129-1710-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Times/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1995
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