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Susan R Johnson, MD's avatar

Fascinating! Thanks so much for your post. I am a retired psychiatrist, trained in the days when we had only “typical” antipsychotics, TCAs, MAOIs, and lithium,as well as a few benzodiazepines, back in the early 1980s. I also have suffered from severe major depressive disorder since then, and have had a lot of medications, including Trazodone when it was called Desyrel and used as an antidepressant. It took a very long time to find the right combination of meds. I would encourage psych residents and others in training to be cognizant of the metabolic side effects of the antipsychotics. I have taken aripiprazole as augmentation therapy over the past 15-20 years. It was first touted as being weight neutral. Despite taking a very small dose, I ended up with an 80 pound weight gain, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes. I felt like I had to choose between being skinny and depressed, or fat and mentally healthy. Obviously I am oversimplifying my experience, but paying attention to side effects, as you point out, is important.

I am currently working on a memoir describing the various treatments I received for major depression over the past 40 years. Lots of changes in the field.

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Lee D.'s avatar

For some wonderful ethnographies dispelling Great Man thinking in science see Bruno Latour’s Lab Life and The Pasteurization of France

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