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Author Kramer, Peter D., author.

Title Ordinarily well : the case for antidepressants / Peter D. Kramer.

Publication Info. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Bristol, Main Library - Display shelf  615.78 KRAMER    Check Shelf
 Bristol, Manross Branch - Non Fiction  615.78 KRAMER    Check Shelf
 Enfield, Main Library - Adult Department  615.78 KRA    Check Shelf
 Farmington, Main Library - Adult Department  615.78 KRA    Check Shelf
 Manchester, Main Library - Non Fiction  615.78 KRAMER    Check Shelf
 Middletown, Russell Library - Adult Nonfiction  615.78 KRA    Check Shelf
 New Britain, Main Library - Non Fiction  615.78 K86    Check Shelf
 Newington, Lucy Robbins Welles Library - Adult Department  615.78 KRAMER    Check Shelf
 University of Saint Joseph: Pope Pius XII Library - Standard Shelving Location  615.78 K89O    Check Shelf
 West Hartford, Noah Webster Library - Non Fiction  616.8527 KRAMER    Check Shelf
Edition First edition.
Description xxii, 310 pages ; 24 cm
Summary "Do antidepressants actually work, or are they just glorified dummy pills? How can we tell one way or the other?In Ordinarily Well, the celebrated psychiatrist and author Peter D. Kramer addresses the growing mistrust of antidepressants among the medical establishment and the broader public by taking the long view. He charts the history of the drugs' development and the research that tests their worth, from the Swiss psychiatrist Roland Kuhn's pioneering midcentury discovery of imipramine's antidepressant properties to recent controversial studies suggesting that medications like Prozac and Paxil may be no better than placebos in alleviating symptoms. He unpacks the complex "inside baseball" of psychiatry--statistics--and reveals the fascinating ways that clinical studies and their results can be combined, manipulated, and skewed toward a desired conclusion. All the while, Kramer never loses sight of the patients themselves. He writes with deep empathy about his own clinical encounters over the decades as he weighed treatments, analyzed trial results, and considered the idiosyncrasies each case presented. As Kramer sees it, we must respect human complexity and the value of psychotherapy without denying the truth--that depression is a serious and destructive illness that demands the most effective treatment available"-- Provided by publisher.
Examines the effectiveness of antidepressants to address a growing mistrust of their use by the medical establishment and the public, discussing their shortcomings and benefits while calling for greater awareness about the seriousness of depression.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [243]-278) and index.
Contents The birth of the modern -- Interlude : anecdote -- Random thoughts -- As Max saw it -- Interlude : the antithesis of science -- Off the hook -- Interlude : my sins -- Permission -- Interlude : what he came here for -- Anti-depressed -- Interlude : transitions -- Big splash -- Alchemy -- Interlude : providence -- Best reference -- Better, faster, cheaper -- Interlude : tolerably good -- Better than well -- Interlude : old dream -- Spotting trout -- Hypothetical counterfactual -- Two plus two -- In plain sight -- Trajectories -- No myth -- Interlude : pitch-perfect -- Trials -- Sham -- Elaboration -- Interlude : slogging -- Lowliness -- Washout -- All comers -- Interlude : cotherapy -- How we're doing -- Steady as she goes -- Interlude : nightmare -- Interlude : for my sins -- Interlude : practicing -- We are the 38 percent -- What we know.
Subject Antidepressants -- History.
Antidepressants -- Effectiveness.
Psychotropic drugs.
PSYCHOLOGY -- Mental Health.
PSYCHOLOGY -- Psychopathology -- Depression.
Antidepressants. (OCoLC)fst00810483
Antidepressants -- Effectiveness. (OCoLC)fst00810485
Psychotropic drugs. (OCoLC)fst01081826
Antidepressive Agents -- therapeutic use
Depression -- drug therapy
Psychotherapy -- trends
Placebo Effect
Genre/Form History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
ISBN 9780374280673 (hardback)
0374280673 (hardback)
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