Better than Prozac: Creating the Next Generation of Psychiatric Drugs

by Samuel H. Barondes

Every day millions of people take psychiatric drugs. In Better Than Prozac Samuel Barondes considers the benefits and limitations of Prozac, Ritalin, Valium, Risperdal, and other widely used medications and the ways that superior ones are being created.
In tracing the early history of these drugs Barondes describes the accidental observations that led to their discovery and their great impact on our view of mental illness. He goes on to show how their unexpected therapeutic effects were attributed to their influence on neurotransmitters that carry signals in the brain and how this guided their improvement.
But Barondes reminds us that, like the originals, current psychiatric drugs don't always work, and often have negative side effects. Furthermore, none were crafted as remedies for known brain abnormalities. In contrast, the design of the drugs of the future will be based on a different an understanding of the molecular mechanisms that give rise to specific patterns of mental symptoms. Using colorful examples of contemporary research, he shows how it is gradually leading to a new generation of psychiatric medications.
A lucid evaluation of psychopharmacology, Better Than Prozac offers a deep understanding of psychiatric drugs for people who take them, those who are considering them, and those who are just fascinated by the powerful effects of these simple chemicals on our thoughts and our feelings.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mental Health

240 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 2003

About the author

Samuel H. Barondes , M.D. is Jeanne and Sanford Robertson Professor and Director of the Center for Neurobiology and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. A leading authority on the application of molecular biology to psychiatry, he is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and recently served as Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Reviews

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting (if now slightly dated -- it came out in 2003), brief work on how psychiatric drugs (antipsychotics, antidepressants, antianxiety meds, etc.) were originally developed, and how new, hopefully better drugs will be developed in the future. I found it to be quite informative and enlightening -- it helped me better understand what exactly it means when doctors say that one patient metabolizes a drug quickly or slowly, for example, and I found it fascinating to learn how many psychiatric drugs were originally developed with the intent of treating completely different ailments. The downside to the book, besides being a bit dated now, is that Barondes is a clear, but not compelling, writer. He's good at imparting information, but the book's really dry, and he isn't very good at making his composite patients sound like real people.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a history of modern psychiatric medication, from accidentally discovery to modern day efforts to target specific neurotransmitters and develop drugs that will interact specifically with their receptors in the brain. I think it's written in a very straight forward, easy to read manner, so that people who don't have much background in biology, psychology, or neuroscience can follow along without difficulty, while still managing to being informative to those that do already know a fair amount about these topics.
Barondes is very open about his personal feelings about these medications as well as his history with the industry, and is very honest about the limitations of the current drugs, and how much is known by doctors and researchers about how and why they work. I think this book is a must read for anyone interested in these fields, or seeking treatment from these medications as it provides a very level headed (if somewhat brief) approach to many topics, and is a good point to become better informed about drugs that are impacting our lives everyday (whether we personally take them or not) that many know far too little about.