Prozac: Mania
"Yeah, I'm on Prozac," I hear quite often, said as if the speaker had
just received a new Porsche. I often do catch myself responding with, "I'm on
Zoloft isn't modern medicine great?" In a way, this exchange is a way of
bonding. In another, more twisted way, it is a way of receiving a stamp of
approval from my peers, for antidepressants have become extremely widespread and
widely accepted. "Prozac...has entered pop culture...becoming the stuff of
cartoons and stand-up comedy routines" ‹and, of course, really bad jokes by
people who do not take the drug. (Chisholm and Nichols 36).
These days, being prescribed an antidepressant carries less stigma than
in the past. "Prozac has ...
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for anxiety or low
self-esteem (Chisholm and Nichols 38).
Part of the popularity of Prozac stems from declining health care. "As
medical plans cut back on coverage for psychotherapy, says [Dr. Robert] Birnbaum
of Boston's Beth Israel, psychiatrists feel pressure simply to Śmedicate and
then monitor side effects'" (Cowley 42). General practitioners, however, write
the majority of Prozac prescriptions. Both of these scenarios raise concerns,
as some psychiatrists state that it can be dangerous for antidepressants to be
used without concurrent psychotherapy sessions (Chisholm and Nichols 38). When
I discontinued my therapy sessions after two years, yet still continued to take
my antidepressants, I felt as if something was missing from my life. Therapy
has been a very important part of my treatment, and I would not have recovered
as well if I had not attended regular psychotherapy sessions.
With the common use of Prozac and other antidepressants, ...
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is still often
thought of as something you or your parents did wrong," which is another reason
why many patients are simply taking the medication instead of also seeing a
therapist (Marrou). I will readily admit that I am on Zoloft, but I usually
keep my "shrink" appointments a secret from all but my closest friends.
Of course, the pop culture references only serve to heighten the overall
contempt toward younger people on antidepressants, and the glamour of taking
them. In the recent Kids in the Hall movie, "we [were] offered a wacky
dystopian vision of a world Prozaced out of its wits" (Ansen). This refers to
the wide usage of antidepressants to treat trivial disorders. ...
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