Product Description

In Beyond Prozac, Samuel Barondes explains the science underlying rational design of the next generation of antidepressive agents, and how we have learned what we know about the molecular basis of the neuropharmacological treatment of mood disorders. Barondes is a pioneer of molecular science, and he presents many case studies throughout the book to help readers understand the stakes and impact of mood disorders, and the scope of our current and potential abilities to intervene and mend clinical depression and anxiety disorders.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1227515 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Review
"A fascinating chronology of just where Prozac, Ritalin, Valium and other medications come from and what our future drugs may be able to do."--Chicago Tribune
"An engaging guide to the new biological paradigm of psychiatry."--Publishers Weekly
"A lively, informative, well-written and authoritative source about likely future developments in the treatment of mental illness."--Washington Times
"This extensively documented book describes the bumpy road from Thorazine to Prozac--a thoroughfare paved with quirky strokes of luck and sometimes tragic side effects, with fascinating anecdotes and eye-opening facts. The history Barondes provides then serves as a background for his report of recent scientific advances, such as the human genome project, which aims at a time when drugs can be customized to suit each person's unique needs and physiology, averting unwelcome side effects. Barondes discusses the world of psychiatric drug therapy with candor and compassion, painting a hopeful future for anyone suffering disorders ranging from clinical depression to schizophrenia."--Booklist
"Better than Prozac is more than just an excellent history of drugs developed to treat mental illness. It is also a fascinating account of the scientists who explore the brain and who are providing us with a new and remarkable understanding of how it works. Dr. Barondes--a lucid writer, esteemed neuroscientist, and respected physician--is uniquely able to tell this important story."--Kay Redfield Jamison, Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School, and author of An Unquiet Mind and Night Falls Fast
"Samuel Barondes is a scientist with a knack for making technical materialaccessible to the general reader. Better than Prozac is a lucid and thorough account of the history and likely future of medications for the mind."--Peter D. Kramer, author of Listening to Prozac and Spectacular Happiness
NATURE, Aug. 7 "An excellent read.... A well-written and comprehensive account of a field that has developed rapidly in the past few decades. It was written for intelligent non-scientific readers, but experts will also find much entertaining material about the scientists who were involved in some of the major discoveries, and in the case histories."--Nature
"Samuel Barondes, one of the great expositors of biological psychiatry, has done it again! He has used his wonderful knowledge of medicine and psychiatry and his insights into the biological basis of drug therapy to give us an historical overview of the development of psychiatric drugs. In so doing, he not only explains how these drugs work and the benefits they bring, he also teaches us about their shortcomings and the roads we have to traverse to go beyond the currently available pharmacological therapies. These roads include, at their core, a better understanding of the biological bases of mental processes and mental disorders, areas which Barondes describes masterfully. In short, this book is a must read for those who want to know where drug therapy in psychiatry is, where it has come from, and where it is heading."--Eric R. Kandel, University Professor, Columbia University, and Nobel Laureate
"A good, short introduction to the history and current methodology of drug development, from the accidental discovery of Thorazine (it was supposed to be an antihistamine) to the current use of 'designer' mice, bred to mimic human psychiatric conditions, to the quest for genetic markers of Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and Parkinson's disease."--Library Journal

About the Author
Samuel H. Barondes, M.D., is the Jeanne and Sanford Robertson Professor and director of the Center for Neurobiology and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. He also serves as chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute of Mental Health. His books Mood Genes: Hunting for Origins of Mania and Depression and Molecules and Mental Illness were selected by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives for their list of 35 "Great
Brain Books".

Customer Reviews

history and glimpse of the future of psychopharmacology
This is a great read, written by Samuel Barondes, who's a top notch researcher, doctor, and science writer. It covers the history of major psychiatric drug discoveries in a concise manner, while also including a lot of interesting detail. Here are a few of the other specific topics. It includes some interesting case studies. It describes the history of mother's little helper pills. It draws the distinction between drugs with immediate effects, such as Valium, and drugs with delayed effects, such as Prozac. And it discusses some very interesting recent happenings in the field of drug discovery. The author states near the end that it may be beneficial to "free psychopharmacology from its fixation on neurotransmission", and that doing so "may open up new ways of treating patients". In the previous two statements Barondes doesn't at all mean that we should give up on using psychiatric drugs to treat mental illness, but rather that new drugs should not focus on altering neurotransmission and instead should affect other brain mechanisms. He thinks that doing so may improve psychiatric drug treatment. Overall, this is an outstanding book that is both thought provoking and extremely well written. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in psychopharmacology or mental health in general. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.