Better Than Prozac: Creating the Next Generation of Psychiatric Drugs (Hardcover)

by Samuel H. Barondes (Author) "Every morning, after breakfast, Clara takes a psychiatric drug..." (more)
Key Phrases: animal psychiatry, norepinephrine hypothesis, gene variants, Sweet Oblivious Antidotes, Susan Smith, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this readable, upbeat treatise, Barondes, a professor of psychiatry and neurobiology, reviews how the advent of powerful and versatile psychiatric drugs has revolutionized both the treatment and the understanding of mental illness, and assesses the prospects for further advances. Covering all the major categories of psychoactive drugs, Barondes charts the (usually serendipitous) discovery of blockbusters like Thorazine, Prozac, Valium, Benzedrine and Ritalin and their unanticipated effects (and side-effects) in treating schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and a host of other disorders. He shows how the success of these drugs has helped uncover the neurological mechanisms underlying psychiatric illness and all but obliterated the old conceptual divide between the physical and the psychological. Barondes is an engaging guide to the new biological paradigm of psychiatry. He gives lay readers a lucid introduction to such topics as the role of neurotransmitters, the psychological similarities of mice and men, and advances in genetics and neurology that promise better, precisely tailored drugs and new treatments for neural disorders like Alzheimer's and narcolepsy. He touches on some of the controversies surrounding psychopharmacology-the large placebo effect, possibly murderous "idiosyncratic responses" of patients to drugs, the over-use of Ritalin and amphetamines for ADHD kids and the marketing of drugs for such mild conditions as "social phobia" (i.e., shyness)-but he has a generally sanguine view of these drugs and their wide application.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The New England Journal of Medicine
The only thing missing from this book is a question mark in the title. Better Than Prozac is about the long road that neuropsychopharmacology has traveled and about hopes for its future, particularly with respect to creating better drugs. Drugs that treat psychiatric conditions are inherently fascinating. In the 1950s, when effective agents became available for use by psychiatric patients, many doctors thought that drugs with a simple pharmacologic action could not solve human problems. Of course, this is true, but what the drugs can help are psychiatric illnesses, which now seem to be caused by abnormal brain function. Many years of consolidation and refinement of the basic concept and of the drugs that were introduced during the 1950s have followed that golden decade. Much of the early "out of the box" thinking occurred in Europe, particularly in France. However, the action seems to have moved across the Atlantic, and the field is now dominated by North America, albeit with some important contributions from various centers around the world. These are interesting times for the field of neuropsychopharmacology. Our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms that give rise to psychiatric disorders and of the contributions of genetic, metabolic, and indeed psychosocial factors still remains frustratingly provisional. Added to this is a growing distrust of the pharmaceutical industry and its role in developing and marketing new drugs. With this background, it is easy for those involved in biologic psychiatry and psychopharmacology to feel beleaguered. Barondes's excellent book provides an antidote. Better Than Prozac is one of the few books I have found that is relevant not only to experts in the field and trainee psychiatrists but also to patients and their families. It is accessible to all and accomplishes the seemingly impossible task of making complex issues in psychopharmacology understandable and clear. Barondes's technique is essentially that of a storyteller recounting the history of the development of psychiatric drugs in an elegant and lucid style. He enriches this historical account with real-world clinical examples and brings the reader from the dawn of psychopharmacology, through all the important developments in the field, and right up to date with breaking research and the potential implications for the future. Barondes's perspective is particularly valuable because he shows not only a wisdom derived from long and varied clinical practice but also an understanding of fundamental neurobiology. I found myself reinvigorated by this book and refreshed to tackle the tough problems it outlines. In particular, it is clear that the achievements of the field in the past 50 years have been so valuable, and recent advances in neurobiology so great, that new and exciting developments are highly likely to happen in the second half of psychopharmacology's first century. Barondes is to be complimented on an excellent book. Allan H. Young, M.D., Ph.D.
Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. The New England Journal of Medicine is a registered trademark of the MMS.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195151305
• ISBN-13: 978-0195151305
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,271,102 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you ever were curious about psychoactive drugs..., June 6, 2006

By	Nadera "deltacool" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Better than Prozac: Creating the Next Generation of Psychiatric Drugs (Paperback)

This book leads the reader through both the pharmacology and the history of a whole host of drugs that are used to treat disorders such as anxiety, depression, and Alzheimer's. He also addresses some of the early studies that were conducted to try to elucidate the effects of these drugs on different patient populations---the stuff about ADHD/ADD is fascinating. The author's style is clear and concise and he did a very good job of taking difficult subject matter and distilling the bits out that are of most interest to the layperson. Perhaps the most amazing point that the author makes is that most of the drug classes were originally found as accidents!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars history and glimpse of the future of psychopharmacology, December 1, 2007

By	Paul J. Fitzgerald "author" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Better than Prozac: Creating the Next Generation of Psychiatric Drugs (Paperback)

This is a great read, written by Samuel Barondes, who's a top notch researcher, doctor, and science writer. It covers the history of major psychiatric drug discoveries in a concise manner, while also including a lot of interesting detail. Here are a few of the other specific topics. It includes some interesting case studies. It describes the history of mother's little helper pills. It draws the distinction between drugs with immediate effects, such as Valium, and drugs with delayed effects, such as Prozac. And it discusses some very interesting recent happenings in the field of drug discovery. The author states near the end that it may be beneficial to "free psychopharmacology from its fixation on neurotransmission", and that doing so "may open up new ways of treating patients". In the previous two statements Barondes doesn't at all mean that we should give up on using psychiatric drugs to treat mental illness, but rather that new drugs should not focus on altering neurotransmission and instead should affect other brain mechanisms. He thinks that doing so may improve psychiatric drug treatment. Overall, this is an outstanding book that is both thought provoking and extremely well written. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in psychopharmacology or mental health in general. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.

4.0 out of 5 stars Better Read Than I Thought, February 22, 2008

By	Michele Soloway (TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Better than Prozac: Creating the Next Generation of Psychiatric Drugs (Paperback)

This book was a better read than I thought it would be. It was a bit more "doctor-speak" in places than I would have liked, but overall was easier to read than I originally thought. This book helped me to understand the ins and outs of medications I am on personally, and gave me a different perspective on others as well. Overall, a good read for the layperson who wants to know more about medications out on the market for psychiatric conditions.