Let Them Eat Prozac: The Unhealthy Relationship Between the Pharmaceutical Industry and Depression

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"In a flood of academic publications and talks, David Healy has issued harsh criticisms of both the pharmaceutical industry in general and the nearly $20-billion-dollar-a-year antidepressant industry in particular." -Boston Globe "[Healy is] the leading authority on the history of psychopharmacology." -Times Literary Supplement "This very important book will demonstrate beyond your worst dreams that the commercial needs of Big Pharma are the natural-born enemy of independent scientific research." -John Le Carr "The author is an excellent historian who offers a gripping interpretation of the role of the pharmaco-industrial complex in the introduction of SSRIs.

His recommendation for a funded agency that would carefully evaluate the benefits and harms of marketed drugs is a superb idea and much needed." -Jonathan Cole, Harvard Medical School Prozac. Paxil. Zoloft. Turn on your television and you are likely to see a commercial for one of the many selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on the market.

We hear a lot about them, but do we really understand how these drugs work and what risks are involved for anyone who uses them? Let Them Eat Prozac explores the history of SSRIs-from their early development to their latest marketing campaigns-and the controversies that surround them. Initially, they seemed like wonder drugs for those with mild to moderate depression-patients take just one daily dose, and unlike the tranquilizers that were popular in the 1960s, they supposedly did not lead to addiction.

When Prozac was released in the late 1980s, David Healy was among the psychiatrists who prescribed it. But he soon observed that some of these patients became agitated and even attempted suicide. Studies were soon published, citing numerous cases in which patients became anxious and reported increased suicidal thoughts while taking Prozac.

Could the new wonder drug actually be making patients worse? Healy draws on his own research and expertise to demonstrate the potential hazards associated with these drugs. He intersperses case histories with insider accounts of the research leading to the development and approval of SSRIs as a treatment for depression. Let Them Eat Prozac clearly demonstrates that the problems go much deeper than a disturbing side-effect of a particular drug.

Current FDA regulations encourage drug companies to patent a specific compound and market it effectively to a large population on the basis of minimal effectiveness in a handful of trials. The pharmaceutical industry would like us to believe that SSRIs can safely treat depression, anxiety, and a host of other mental problems.

But as Let Them Eat Prozac reveals, this "cure" may be worse than the disease.