Research Catalog

Ordinarily well : the case for antidepressants

Title
Ordinarily well : the case for antidepressants / Peter D. Kramer.
Author
Kramer, Peter D
Publication
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.
Supplementary Content
Cover image

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TextUse in library JFE 16-9786Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xxii, 310 pages; 24 cm
Summary
  • "Do antidepressants actually work, or are they just glorified dummy pills? How can we tell one way or the other?In Ordinarily Well, the celebrated psychiatrist and author Peter D. Kramer addresses the growing mistrust of antidepressants among the medical establishment and the broader public by taking the long view. He charts the history of the drugs' development and the research that tests their worth, from the Swiss psychiatrist Roland Kuhn's pioneering midcentury discovery of imipramine's antidepressant properties to recent controversial studies suggesting that medications like Prozac and Paxil may be no better than placebos in alleviating symptoms. He unpacks the complex "inside baseball" of psychiatry--statistics--and reveals the fascinating ways that clinical studies and their results can be combined, manipulated, and skewed toward a desired conclusion. All the while, Kramer never loses sight of the patients themselves. He writes with deep empathy about his own clinical encounters over the decades as he weighed treatments, analyzed trial results, and considered the idiosyncrasies each case presented. As Kramer sees it, we must respect human complexity and the value of psychotherapy without denying the truth--that depression is a serious and destructive illness that demands the most effective treatment available"--
  • "An eminent psychologist and writer discusses the value of antidepressant drugs"--
Subject
  • Antidepressants > History
  • Antidepressants > Effectiveness
  • Psychotropic drugs
  • PSYCHOLOGY / Mental Health
  • PSYCHOLOGY / Psychopathology / Depression
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-278) and index.
Call Number
JFE 16-9786
ISBN
  • 9780374280673
  • 0374280673
LCCN
2015036472
OCLC
2015036472
Author
Kramer, Peter D, author.
Title
Ordinarily well : the case for antidepressants / Peter D. Kramer.
Publisher
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.
Edition
First edition.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-278) and index.
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Research Call Number
JFE 16-9786
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