Ten Years of Vitamin P: Prozac and Social Meaning (Commentaries: The World at Large‪)‬

Prozac, the anti-depressant medication that launched a new wave of chemically based psychiatry, has been commercially available for ten years. The occasion of this anniversary has provoked a welter of commentary: pro, con and maybe. As Prozac and similar drugs become more established as a feature of contemporary life, every sort of question about their use seems to be raised, aside, that is, from the basic assumptions that underpin such use. On some issues there is a broad consensus. Considerable debate has centred on the degree to which the drug is over-prescribed. That it is over-prescribed there is little doubt. It is doled out by GPs, hospital psychiatrists and private practitioners at the drop of a tear, often with the barest investigation of case histories, symptoms or underlying causes. To be fair, many have major misgivings about this practice, and while the remnant physicalist bias of much medical training is partly to blame, much of it is forced on coal-face practitioners by tight public health budgets, and the demands of patients. Most practitioners would prefer to administer a mixture of cognitive psychotherapy and pharmaceuticals as necessary, and in that order.