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Coming Of Age On Zoloft: How Antidepressants Cheered Us Up, Let Us Down, And Changed Who We Are (2012)

by Katherine Sharpe(Favorite Author)

3.48 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0062059734 (ISBN13: 9780062059734)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Harper Perennial

review 1: Unlike Andrew Solomon's "The Noonday Demon," this thoughtful exploration of depression and some of its treatments mostly focuses on the questions surrounding the use of antidepressants for those whose symptoms and situations allow for the contemplation of such questions. Throughout the course of the book, the author becomes fully aware that the use of prescription antidepressants is not a choice for many, no matter what the possible long-term effects of the drug(s) may prove to be. But Sharpe doesn't hide the fact that this is a slow and unfolding realization, even to her. And she certainly doesn't shy away from any criticisms of her own relative privilege in that arena, nor does she pretend to come to a definitive answer about any of the questions she raises--questions ab... moreout the stigma surrounding mental illness and mood disorders, the proliferation of consumer-facing prescription drug ads, the effectiveness of talk therapy, and the range of human emotions. Instead, what she offers is an open, honest conversation about the myriad ways that being prescribed and taking a certain class of drug can shape a person's view of and relationship with herself.
review 2: Very insightful interesting read but I was very disappointed that she blatantly leaves out the biological and hormonal causes of depression for adolescent girls. There's an entire chapter on gender issues and how developing identity and self esteem contributes to depression in the formative years and why that may be why depression often first appears during puberty but nothing, nothing?!?! on how hormonal changes might also be a cause. That's a huge error in my view. less

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