HWN Suggests

Prozac Reduced Stigma of Depression

Prozac showed how a mainstream marketing effort targeted toward a specific mental illness could change the entire conversation. Before its introduction, depression was stigmatized, people were embarrassed to admit they had it, and they often hid it from others. It was because of Prozac’s marketing campaign that, for the first time in American society, we could have a serious and real discussion about mental disorders like depression.

Not only was it suddenly O.K. to be taking an antidepressant, for many it became a badge of honor. Its marketing let everyone know, “hey, depression isn’t a personal failing or due to poor morals or bad parenting. It’s a biochemical thing that a medication…

read full article

Featured

 The Prozac Paradox

Why antidepressants may exacerbate depression and anxiety in some kids and teens.

Articles of Interest

Prozac, used by 40m people, does not work say scientists

Analysis of unseen trials and other data concludes it is no better than placebo.

'Prozac Nation' Was the Film That Made Me Get Help for My Depression

After watching the adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's autobiography about being a narcissistic, mentally ill student with no redemption, my life completely changed course.

30 years after Prozac arrived, we still buy the lie that chemical imbalances cause depression

Some 2,000 years ago, the Ancient Greek scholar Hippocrates argued that all ailments, including mental illnesses such as melancholia, could be explained by imbalances in the four bodily fluids, or “humors.” Today, most of us like to think we know better: Depression—our term for melancholia—is caused by an imbalance, sure, but a chemical imbalance, in the brain. This explanation, widely cited as empirical truth, is false.

Ads for Prozac Are Aimed At Consumers, Not Doctors

Eli Lilly has a message for you: "Depression Hurts." The slogan is part of a major advertising campaign Lilly is launching to re-energize the flagging growth rate of its antidepressant Prozac, under attack by competitors Pfizer , SmithKline Beecham and others. The campaign, aimed directly at consumers, is likely to reopen the debate over whether the drug is being used too widely -- or not widely enough.

Did the Blockbuster Prozac Help or Hurt Medicine?

Prozac’s introduction by Eli Lilly and Company in 1988 transformed not only the treatment of depression but also our views and expectations of pharmaceuticals. But was it a true step forward in medicine, or did it just open the flood gates to aggressive marketing and commercial branding of drugs?

Happy drug Prozac can bring on impulse to suicide, study says

Alarming evidence from a new British study shows that the Prozac class of antidepressants can make healthy men, women and children with no history of depression feel suicidal.

Pass The Prozac: Fruit Flies Get Depressed, Too

The discovery of depression-like behavior in insects shows depression has deep roots in the animal kingdom.

Post-Prozac Nation

Few medicines, in the history of pharmaceuticals, have been greeted with as much exultation as a green-and-white pill containing 20 milligrams of fluoxetine hydrochloride — the chemical we know as Prozac. In her 1994 book “Prozac Nation,” Elizabeth Wurtzel wrote of a nearly transcendental experience on the drug. Before she began treatment with antidepressants, she was living in “a computer program of total negativity . . .

Prozac Is No Magic Pill, but It Works

Our research shows that antidepressants work across the lifespan, in patients with moderate or severe depression.

Prozac May Be the Only Drug That Effectively Treats Depression in Kids

Therapy is still the best course of treatment for childhood depression.

Prozac Nation Gave Me Permission to Talk About My Mental Health

Elizabeth Wurtzel died this week of breast cancer, but her legacy will forever change the way we talk about mental illness.

Prozac the Most Widely Used Antidepressant

Maybe money can't buy happiness, but plenty of us try to induce it in other ways, with chocolate or yoga or a medical solution. Today's last word in business is Prozac, often called the happy drug. It's the most widely used antidepressant in history, with 54 million prescriptions.

The creation of the Prozac myth

Research revealed this week shows that Prozac, and similar antidepressants, are no more effective than a sugar pill. So how was the myth created? Psychoanalyst Darian Leader traces the irrepressible rise of the multibillion dollar depression industry, while others explore the clinical and cultural impact of Prozac, its perceived personal benefits - and sometimes terrible costs

These Antidepressants Are Most Effective, Study Says

The least effective, the study authors concluded, appeared to be Fluoxetine (Prozac), fluvoxamine (Faverin), reboxetine (Edronax) and trazodone (Desyrel).

Why I'll Never Stop Taking Prozac

I've tried to come off Prozac in the past but felt awful when I did. Does that make me an addict? I've given up worrying—as a depressive, life is livable on them. That's all that matters.

Resources

Fluoxetine

Fluoxetine is FDA-approved for major depressive disorder (for patients eight years and older), obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, bulimia, binge eating disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and bipolar depression as well as treatment-resistant depression when used in combination with olanzapine.