July/August 2014

View All Issues

Editor's Note

Rich Simon

In the age of Big Pharma, meds have flattened all before them in their virtual conquest of the mental health field. Over the years, antidepressants have come to be sold as virtual panaceas for just about any emotional trouble to which humans are prone. According to many observers, however, these drugs are wildly overprescribed, often for conditions that wouldn’t be captured even in DSM’s ever more capacious net.

Read More
A vintage advertisement for cocaine toothache drops

Falling in Love Again

A Brief History of Psychoactive Drugs

Mary Sykes Wylie

Over the last 150 years, we’ve seen waves of mass infatuations with psychotropic drugs—antidepressants being the latest. While all these drugs are different, their story arc seems to follow a predictable course. Read More
An anthropomorphic pill has an argument with a man as a therapist takes notes

Beyond Chemistry

Exploring Our Relationship with Our Meds

Frank Anderson

The chemical effect of psychoactive meds is only part of their impact. In fact, people often develop complex relationships with the pills they take. Read More
A woman watches as a man inserts the final piece of a large puzzle

The Anatomy of a Psychiatric Consult

Solving the Puzzle

Steven Dubovsky

For many therapists, an air of mystery surrounds the role of psychopharmacology in mental health treatment. Here's a step-by-step tour of the complexities of the psychiatric consultation. Read More
An illustration of a man standing on a floating pill at sea

The Meds of the Future

Waiting for the Next Magic Pill

Talia Puzantian

Does our growing understanding of the brain and the prospect of further scientific discoveries mean there’s a new generation of magical pills on the horizon? Read More
An illustration of a person holding a pill

SSRIs in Perspective

Have They Lived up to Their Promise?

John Preston

After wading through the controversies and contradictions in the research literature on SSRIs, a critic of Big Pharma explains why he thinks these drugs may have gotten a bad rap. Read More

Departments