Psychologist and writer Lauren Slater published an essay in the Times a few days ago with a warning to psychotropic pill poppers: "Buyer beware." Hype followed by disappointment fills the historical landscape of pharmaceutical wonderdrugs, from chlorpromazine to Ambien. She notes: "I’m surprised we haven’t yet created chemical cures for those mourning their chemical cures."
Oh, but dear Lauren, we have! On March 6, The Onion reported: "The Food and Drug Administration today approved the sale of the drug PharmAmorin, a prescription tablet developed by Pfizer to treat chronic distrust of large prescription-drug manufacturers." Side effects include "ignoring the side effects of prescription drug medication."
Snarky aside: Slater is a great writer, and I’m sure she’s a great psychologist, but I’m glad she’s not a psychiatrist. She writes, "I like the idea that human hope has a half-life of about 10 years and is fully excreted in two decades". I like the idea of a doctor who understands what half-life means.
Leave a Reply