Life as a Blonde: The Use of Prozac in the 90's

Authors

  • Colleen Cebuliak

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/alr1132

Abstract

With the rapid rise in the use of such anti-depressant drugs as Prozac comes a host of legal and ethical issues for psychiatrists prescribing the drugs. This article examines the implications of prescribing mood-altering drugs from the standpoint of professional ethics and the law. The author discusses the side-effects of Prozac and the current trend towards "cosmetic psychopharmacology" - the use of the drug to alter or enhance the personalities of patients who are technically healthy but looking for an "edge" or mood-improver. The article explores the controversy surrounding the claim that Prozac patients experience suicidal and violent thoughts as a result of the drug; the author goes on to discuss the issue of the psychiatrist's potential liability when something goes wrong and when the drug has been prescribed to a patient who is well. Following is a summary of current civil and criminal litigation surrounding the Prozac controversy. The author concludes that in most cases, the legal and ethical implications of prescribing Prozac to the "normal" patient should prohibit psychiatrists from doing so; however, the reality is that the prescription of Prozac to patients who are not clinically depressed is already widespread. Thus, the author concludes that the psychiatric community must encourage public debate and education.

Downloads

Issue

Vol 33, No 3

Section

Articles

License

For Editions following and including Volume 61 No. 1, the following applies.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License

For Editions prior to Volume 61 No. 1, the following applies.

Author(s) retain original copyright in the substantive content of the titled work, subject to the following rights that are granted indefinitely:

  1. Author(s) grant the Alberta Law Review permission to produce, publish, disseminate, and distribute the titled work in electronic format to online database services, including, but not limited to: LexisNexis, QuickLaw, HeinOnline, and EBSCO;
  2. Author(s) grant the Alberta Law Review permission to post the titled work on the Alberta Law Review website and/or related websites.
  3. Author(s) agree that the titled work may be used for educational or instructional purposes and/or in educational or instructional materials. The author(s) acknowledge that the titled work is subject to other such "fair dealing" provisions and applicable legislation.
  4. Author(s) grant a limited license to those accessing the titled work from an electronic database or an Alberta Law Review website to download the titled work onto their computer and to print a copy for their own personal, non-commercial use, subject to proper attribution.

To use the journal's content elsewhere, permission must be obtained from the author(s) and the Alberta Law Review.