Caption: Peter Kramer on the profound effect antidepressants can have on personality.
This contentious issue isn’t likely to die down anytime soon. But according to Peter Kramer, author of the acclaimed Listening to Prozac, there’s solid evidence that some antidepressants have the capacity to not only help clients beat depression, but come away from it with more robust personalities than they had before.
In this brief video clip, Peter explains how newer antidepressants like Paxil and Prozac not only did away with side effects found in their older counterparts, but seemed to give people a competitive social edge. “There’s been controversy over whether these medicines work,” says Peter. “But the research seems to show that when people take them, something happens to personality.”
In the Networker Webcast series Meds: Myths and Realities, Peter shines a light on the controversial notion that today’s antidepressants can fundamentally change the way people think and behave.
Tags: antidepressants | depression | prozac | ssris | therapy