2004, ISBN: 9780679457213

Gebundene Ausgabe

New York: Random House. 1998. First Edition. Hardcover. Brand Newin Fine DJ; Marfree, acidfree gift qual F/Fine 1stEd SIGNED on tp; (out of print) not marked-in, clearance or discard. Us… Mehr…

New York: Random House. 1998. First Edition. Hardcover. Brand Newin Fine DJ; Marfree, acidfree gift qual F/Fine 1stEd SIGNED on tp; (out of print) not marked-in, clearance or discard. Usually mails within 12 hours. ; 8.25 x 1.00 x 5.50; 203 pages; A Worthy Addition To The Genre, June 12, 2004 Reviewer: Magna Opus "magdalen20002" (San Diego, CA USA) - Lauren Slater's 1999 memoir Prozac Diary is a worthy addition to the "women and madness" genre or for the millions currently taking antidepressants. What makes Slater's book a standout, though, is that it's the experience of one of the first people to use Prozac for depression. Slater writes her diary ten years after she first started taking the drug regularly in 1988, so we get to read of the long-term affects of daily dosing and how the drug changed her life over time. What was most interesting about Slater's story is how she had to learn to live life as a no-longer-depressed person. Her entire life, depression and its consequences dominated her life, gave her life meaning and routine, and defined who she was. When the "Zac" started working, she struggled to develop a new sense of herself, separate and apart from the depressed Lauren. #For me, the problem was that there wasn't enough experience there; something felt missing from the story. Perhaps it was the editor's fault. Or maybe my expectations were incorrect from the start. Slater's history is briefly given: lifelong struggles with depression and other forms of mental illness, a history of hospitalizations and attempts at various therapies, none of which were successful until Prozac in 1988. Perhaps I wanted to know more or I wanted the story to be told in a different style. I can't put my finger on it, but for this reader there was just something missing. Slater's writing style is poetic, but it was sometimes a distraction. #I highly recommend the book to those interested in antidepressants for any reason, whether it's history of Prozac's rise to prominence (what some call the aspirin of our age) , how it affects people over the short and long-term, or simple voyeurism into the mind and life of someone classified as mentally ill. Lauren Slater truly benefited from this drug, and while many people think Prozac is tossed around too freely these days, she is an excellent example of whom this drug was originally developed for. It's staggering and sad to think how many lives could have been saved if we'd had this drug fifty years ago. #Prozac Diary is a slim read that can be devoured in one day by the voracious reader. Definitely worth the time for those of us living in this Age of Anxiety. #About the Author: Lauren Slater has a master's degree in psychology from Harvard University and a doctorate from Boston University. Her work was chosen for The Best American Essays of 1994 and 1997. She is the winner of the 1993 New Letters Literary Award in creative nonfiction and of the 1994 Missouri Review Award. She lives with her husband in Massachusetts. ; Signed by Author ., Random House, 1998, 0<

1998, ISBN: 0679457216

[EAN: 9780679457213], [PU: Random House], A crisp clean hardcover, no markings throughout, not an ex-lib: When the author began taking Prozac in 1988 she was 26 and had already struggled … Mehr…

[EAN: 9780679457213], [PU: Random House], A crisp clean hardcover, no markings throughout, not an ex-lib: When the author began taking Prozac in 1988 she was 26 and had already struggled for over a decade with hospitalizations, suicide attempts, anorexia, and self-mutilation resulting from a variety of mental illnesses, obsessive-compulsive disorder the most recent among them. The newly released drug liberated her from debilitating anxiety and pain even as it raised unsettling questions about her own identity, as she had always been defined by her afflictions. "The world as I had known it my whole life did not seem to exist," writes Slater in a characteristically incisive sentence. She was happier, but she found it difficult to write without the inner voices that had sparked her fevered creativity; even the philosophy books she had once loved now seemed irrelevant to her newly healthy state. With utter candor (even about her dampened sexuality) and a surprising amount of humor, Slater chronicles the ups and downs of life on Prozac. A nightmarish relapse when the dosage suddenly proves inadequate ("Prozac poop-out") ultimately helps her discover inner resources to combat her illness in conjunction with the medication. She finds new love and a better understanding of her past; she avoids the equally unrealistic extremes of Prozac boosters who ignore the drug's costs and doomsayers who depict it creating a generation of zombies. Slater's balanced final assessment is voiced, as usual, in exact, lyrical prose: "This is Prozac's burden and gift, keeping me alive to the most human of questions, bringing me forward, bringing me back, swaddling and unswaddling me, pushing., Books<

ISBN: 9780679457213

Today millions of people take Prozac, but Lauren Slater was one of the first. In this rich and beautifully written book, she describes what it's like to spend most of your life feeling cr… Mehr…

Today millions of people take Prozac, but Lauren Slater was one of the first. In this rich and beautifully written book, she describes what it's like to spend most of your life feeling crazy -- and to wake up one day and find yourself in the strange state of feeling well. And then to face the challenge of creating a whole new real life. "The beauty of Lauren Slater's prose is shocking", said Newsday about Welcome to My Country, and Slater's remarkable gifts as a writer are present here in sentences that are elegant darts, hitting at the center of the deepest human feelings. Prozac Diary is a wonderfully written report from inside a decade on Prozac, and an original writer's acute observations on the challenges of living modern life. Media > Book, [PU: Random House; Alfred A. Knopf]<