Full Description
The Age of Psychopharmacology began with a brilliant rise in the 1950s, when for the first time science entered the study of drugs that affect the brain and mind. But, esteemed historian Edward Shorter argues that there has been a recent fall, as the field has seen its drug offerings impoverished and its diagnoses distorted by the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." The new drugs, such as Prozac, have been less effective than the old. The new diagnoses, such as "major depression," have strayed increasingly from the real disorders of most patients. Behind this disaster has been the invasion of the field by the pharmaceutical industry. This invasion has paid off commercially but not scientifically: There have been no new classes of psychiatry drugs in the last thirty years. Given that psychiatry's diagnoses and therapeutics have largely failed, the field has greatly declined from earlier days. Based on extensive research discovered in litigation, Shorter provides a historical perspective of change and decline over time, concluding that the story of the psychopharmacology is a story of a public health disaster.
Contents
Preface
PART I: GETTING GOING
Ch 1. Introduction
Ch 2. Before Psychopharmacology
Ch 3. The Rise of Psychopharmacology
Ch 4. Things Get Rolling
Ch 5. Depression and Schizophrenia
Ch 6. Industry: Early Days
PART II: WORSENING
Ch 7. DSM
Ch 8. Science
Ch 9. KOLs
Ch 10. Trials Begin
Ch 11. Trials: Fantasy Patients for Fantasy Diseases
Ch 12. Trials: Industry Takes Over
Ch 13. Marketing
Ch 14. Journals
Ch 15. FDA
PART III: SCIENCE DISASTER
Ch 16. Prozac and Its Cousins
Ch 17. Sally
Ch 18. Atypicals
Ch 19. TMAP
Ch 20. Fall of Psychopharmacology
Ch 21. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
