nical trials and results actually showed that patients on Prozac experience suicidality less frequently than patients on a placebo or another antidepressant. The same thing has been shown in terms of violent behaviors. Antidepressants like Prozac seem to have a protective effect. The tendency toward violence will actually decrease. Dr. James Brookes, a Toronto general practitioner, says that there is generous praise from doctors and patients for an antidepressant that has made it easier to treat a debilitating illness. The side effects of older antidepressants-including a parched mouth, difficulty in urinating and feeling of psychological detachment-made them hard to take. "There were serious problems involved in getting patients to tolerate those drugs in therapeutic doses," says Brooks, "but, with Prozac, you don't have this. I'm really pleased with Prozac." ( Nichols, 2)Many patients are equally enthusiastic. William Pringle, Vancouver special events organizer, was flattened by a major depression. His doctor put him on Prozac. "I fell into a dark pit," says Pringle. "Prozac pulled me out and got me relaunched on my life." Maria Theresa Spagnuolo of Toronto began taking it in 1989, after three automobile accidents left her with chronic pain throughout her body. And she also suffered serious depression. Spagnuolo found that she "was crying about everything, spilled milk was a catastrophe. But Prozac gave me energy and changed my outlook so that I can cope with life. I don't think I could function without it" (2).For one Hawaiian business woman, who had a steady diet of antidepressants and psychotherapy off and on for 20 years before Prozac, but never lost her sense of despair, the past three years with Prozac have been miraculous. "I felt fabulous not as in 'up', but as in 'my god, I started to be normal,'" she said. " Now I get sad when there's reason to be sad, but I don't feel hopeless" (Creamer, 1).In conclusion, t...
