>Prozac does *not* affect perception/feeling as psychodelics, etc. do.
This is untrue. Prozac absolutely affects perception and feeling. It may affect them in a different way but its action is very much detectable by people who take it.
>it works (there is still a debate about that), it works as insulin does for
>diabetics or Vitamin C does for anyone with a vitamin deficiency: it
>restores normal body functioning -- in this case the flow of serotonin
>in the synapses.
It is not entirely clear that there is such a thing as a serotonin deficit. It is clear that people who are depressed respond well to increased serotonin levels, but that is very different from saying that Prozac is something like insulin.
. This is why (if it works) it takes weeks to take effect:
>it has no immediate impact. I object because jokes like this about Prozac
>(which is short for all anti-depressants) is an integral part of what we
>who suffer from depression, etc. call the stigma attached to mental
>illness.
Obviously there is no excuse for stigmatizing psychologically and mentally ill people, but that is a result of ignorance. It is the case, however, that drugs used to help those with mental illness can be abused. That is simply patently obvious and unarguable. It may be that Prozac is, in some cases, an abused drug. Ritalin is almost certainly an abused drug. Drug companies and doctors are selling products and the drive to sell sometimes overwhelms the drive to do good, scientific medicine.
>Carrol
>
>