Effects of Prozac

Transformation of Personality Peter D. Kramer, M.D. Psychology Today July / August 1993 8 Pages Peter D. Kramer, M.D. tells of his first experience with Prozac involving a woman named Tess. Tess was the eldest of 10 children, born to a passive mother and an alcoholic father. Tess was physically and sexually abused as a child. When Tess was 12 her father dies and her mother entered a clinical depression from which she never recovered. Tess was then …

…she was slipping. She liked the feeling of stability that Prozac gave her. Dr. Kramer was then left to decide whether or not to prescribe Prozac to a patient who was not depressed. Again on Prozac, Tess responded as she had hoped, self-assurance, renewed confidence, and social comfort. Not all patients on Prozac respond this way. Some are unaffected, some merely recover from depression as they might on any medication. But a few are transformed.