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.
Table of Contents
PrefacePART I: GETTING GOINGCh 1. IntroductionCh 2. Before PsychopharmacologyCh 3. The Rise of PsychopharmacologyCh 4. Things Get RollingCh 5. Depression and SchizophreniaCh 6. Industry: Early DaysPART II: WORSENINGCh 7. DSMCh 8. ScienceCh 9. KOLsCh 10. Trials BeginCh 11. Trials: Fantasy Patients for Fantasy DiseasesCh 12. Trials: Industry Takes OverCh 13. MarketingCh 14. JournalsCh 15. FDAPART III: SCIENCE DISASTERCh 16. Prozac and Its CousinsCh 17. SallyCh 18. AtypicalsCh 19. TMAPCh 20. Fall of PsychopharmacologyCh 21. ConclusionAcknowledgments
