There are some differences, however. Miltown, Librium, Valium, and Xanax are all classed as minor tranquilizing drugs with habituating properties. They have been and are being prescribed for anxiety disorders and, in some cases, panic attacks.
Prozac belongs to air entirely different group of drugs classified as antidepressants, with an entirely different mechanism of action and without die habit-forming properties that proved so troublesome with the antianxiety drugs listed above.
But even aside from these differences, there has never before been a fad for an antidepressant drug like the one that has accompanied Prozac. Other drug fads have promised that you’ll feel better and more relaxed. Prozac’s reputation promises not just that you’ll feel better but that you’ll feel, seem, and be different. It has been touted not only as a useful treatment for depression but as an aid for nondepressed people who want a “personality change” or just want to be happier.
The major reason for this reputation is that the blown up the usefulness of Prozac and d promises for it that extend far beyond tic conditions of major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, for which it roved. Clinical trials to date simply do t the exaggerated claims for this new compound as a panacea for all psychiatric and personality problems of the “worried well.”
Just because the claims are exaggerated doesn’t mean that they are completely false. Although many patients feel improved with Prozac, approximately 10% feel rapidly and distinctly better than their usual selves. This latter group—and it’s possible to predict who they will be with a reasonable degree of certainty—sometimes claim to feel better than they’ve ever felt before. Prozac is not a cure-all, but it is likely that the claims that Prozac can make a person more outgoing, less fearful, and more self-confident are indeed true. These claims are in fact true for all antidepressant drugs, pear, uncertainty and a lack of self-confidence are standard symptoms of depression. When the depression lifts for any reason, these symptoms disappear.
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