Type Prozacinto your Internet search engine and see what Kinesha
is talking about. Most of the listings are about the dangers of Prozac rather
than its beneficial effects. Extreme agitation, suicidal impulses, weight
gain—the horror stories abound.
Prozac and the SSRIs aredangerous drugs if they’re misprescribed,
which they sometimes are. When Prozac first came out, it was heralded not
only as a drug for depression, but one that could improve normal personali-
ties as well. It was even supposed to make people lose weight! Books were
written about how wonderful it was, and people beat a path to their doctors’
doors to get prescriptions, whether they needed them or not. This is nothing
new. It happens every time a new type of psychoactive medication comes out.
Cocaine and Valium were also touted as personality enhancers until a lot of
people started taking them and the extent of their side effects became known.
Prozac got great publicity from a number of sources. In addition to
the misguided prophets, many physicians and drug companies touted the
first SSRI as evidence of what they knew all along: that mental disorders
were physical problems better treated with medication than with the
vagaries of psychotherapy. There are some doctors who believe that
depressions are now in the same class of disorders as sinus infections, and
that no special expertise is required to treat them..
Prozac could not live up to its hype, but what can? Selective sero-
tonin reuptake inhibitors, as we have seen, are useful in treating a number
of disorders, but they are not panaceas, nor, for that matter, are they par-
ticularly selective. SSRIs are machetes that are sometimes sold as scalpels.
They can chop away mental underbrush, but not without collateral damage.
Now that they’ve been around for a while, we have a clearer idea of what
that damage is and what we can do about it:
AGITATION. People starting out on SSRIs often feel agitated, as if they’ve
had way too much coffee. They feel nervous, jumpy, and can have diffi-
culty sleeping. This side effect seems to come from the same chemical
action that increases energy and motivation, which is a very desirable main
effect in cases like Kinesha’s
Usually, the unpleasant agitation only lasts a couple of days. It’s often
controlled by starting people on a very low dose and working up. Though
this can delay the antidepressant effect several weeks longer, the wait may
be worth it.
Explosions into Sadness ❧ 161