Prozac as a Way of Life
Edited by Carl Elliott, Tod Chambers
224 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, notes, index
-
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-5551-5
Published: September 2004 -
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4696-1708-4
Published: August 2016
Studies in Social Medicine
Buy this Book
- Paperback $37.50
- E-Book $24.99
The eleven essays in Prozac as a Way of Life provide the groundwork for a much-needed philosophical discussion of the ethical and cultural dimensions of the popularity of SSRI antidepressants. Focusing on the increasing use of medication as a means of self-enhancement, contributors from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, bioethics, and the medical humanities address issues of identity enhancement, the elasticity of psychiatric diagnosis, and the aggressive marketing campaigns of pharmaceutical companies. They do not question the fact that these antidepressants can, in some cases, provide great benefit to alleviate real suffering. What they do question is the abundant popularity of these drugs and that popularity's relationship to American culture and ideas of selfhood.
Contributors:
Tod Chambers, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago
David DeGrazia, George Washington University
James C. Edwards, Furman University
Carl Elliott, University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics
David Healy, University of Wales College of Medicine
Laurence J. Kirmayer, McGill University
Peter D. Kramer, Brown University
Erik Parens, The Hastings Center
Lauren Slater, AfterCare Services, Boston
Susan Squier, Pennsylvania State University
Laurie Zoloth, Northwestern University Center for Genetic Medicine, Chicago
About the Authors
Carl Elliott is associate professor of philosophy and pediatrics at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota. His most recent book is Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream.
For more information about Carl Elliott, visit
the
Author
Page.
Tod Chambers is associate professor of bioethics and medical humanities at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine and author of The Fiction of Bioethics: Cases as Literary Texts.
For more information about Tod Chambers, visit
the
Author
Page.
Reviews
"The editors bring together a world-class group of doctors, philosophers, and ethicists to explore the implications of medically enhanced life."--Psychology Today
"An important contribution to a debate on how one becomes who one is."--Choice
"There is much to chew on in this provocative collection."--New England Journal of Medicine
"Lively essays."-- Chronicle of Higher Education
"A truly provocative and unusually coherent collection. The authors engage in real discussion with each other. What emerges is a nuanced understanding of Prozac as a cultural phenomenon and of enhancement technologies as an issue for ethics."--Charles L. Bosk, University of Pennsylvania
"Elliott and Chambers deserve great credit for helping keep this very necessary conversation alive--and for reminding us of the enormous stakes."--Bill McKibben, author of Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age
Quick Links
Related Books
