@article{760409,
      recid = {760409},
      author = {Kramer, Peter D.,},
      title = {Ordinarily well : the case for antidepressants /},
      pages = {xxii, 310 pages ;},
      abstract = {"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"--},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/760409},
}