Wednesday, January 12, 2011

40 for 40 Book One

This is my first book in the 40 for 40 plan.
My friend Gretchen Kubacky strongly recommended it as I enter my 40s.

Listening to Prozac
It is available at the library for me to pick up today.

REVIEW-Updated 1/28/11
This was a great book and almost one of the books I would recommend that people trying to find balance and space in their working and family life read.
A few takeaways from the book that I wouldn't have expected from the title and overview:
1. People who seem to have it together in most aspects of their life have one area in which they are falling apart. Once that area spills over into other areas things quickly deteriorate.
2. There is a feeling by many (the author included) that Prozac makes them the best version of their self and when they are no longer on it they lose their self.
3. Many people on low to moderate doses of Prozac and other ssri's feel like they are "cheating" to get ahead at work or in life.

Some of the more interesting learning's from the book:
1. I find it very interesting that the author was finding this to be a drug that defined a disease rather than a disease finding a solution within a drug.
2. The broad use of the drug started to make psychiatrists start to diagnose patients with a very low spectrum version of a disease because they felt they would respond to the drug.
3. As a result of the positive response by patients to Prozac many felt that their were broader spectrums of depression, anxiety, and OCD which allowed those people to reach out for mental health assistance.

Overall it was a great read and it was a great read for the first book of my 40th year.

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