Taking Our Daily Meds

There is no argument that depression is one of the most widespread mental illnesses. About 16% of all people will encounter at least one major depressive episode in their lives. Since 1986, the drug Prozac has been prescribed for many depression sufferers, becoming the most widely prescribed anti-depression medication in history.

Today, new research is discovering hidden benefits to this drug, and it’s transforming not only the way we treat depression, but the very science of this disease. Jonah Lehrer wrote an article for The Boston Globe about the effects of Prozac beyond the treatment of depression, and he joins us to talk about it on the show today.

Also, Prozac is not the only prescription drug our culture has become increasingly familiar with in the last decade. Pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars every year on marketing to make sure we know the latest, greatest pills hitting the local drugstore. In fact, direct-to-consumer advertising of brand name drugs has grown from $700 million in 1997 to more than $4 billion today.

Melody Petersen believes that has created a society that is hooked on meds we don’t need. She spent four years covering the drug companies for The New York Times, and she just wrote a new book called "Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs."