The Title: The Drugs that Changed Our Minds

Author: Lauren Slater

Description: A revolutionary and revealing history of the psychotropic drugs that have shaped our minds and our reality. As our approach to mental illness has oscillated from biological to psychoanalytic and back again, so too have our treatments changed. The rise of psychopharmacology has led to an ever-growing number of people worldwide consuming psychotropic drugs, yet almost seventy years after doctors began prescribing them, we still do not know exactly how or why they work—or don't work—on the things that trouble our brains.

Lauren Slater offers an explosive account not only of the science but also of the people—inventors, detractors, and consumers—behind our drugs, from early ones such as Thorazine and Lithium, to Prozac, Ecstasy, 'magic mushrooms,' and the latest in memory and neural implants. In doing so, she narrates the story of psychiatry and sheds light on the signature these colorful capsules have left on millions of brains worldwide, and how these wonder drugs may heal or harm us.

Reviews:

‘This powerful new book’ - The Daily Mail

‘The tangled history and bold future of psychotropic drugs’ – O Magazine

‘Lively and provocative’ – Harper's Magazine

‘Complimentary... Slater’s depictions of madness are terrifying and captivating’ – USA Today

‘Lively inquiry and intimate reflection… particularly compelling’ – Kirkus

Pages: 416

Publication Year: 0322

Dimensions: 15.3 x 15.3 cm