COMING OF AGE ON ZOLOFT: NOTES ON MY GENERATION ON DRUGS

Book ID/图书代码： 04332810B37259

English Summary/英文概要： COMING OF AGE ON ZOLOFT tells the story of what it’s like to grow up on antidepressants from the perspective of the first generation to have done so. Timed to coincide with the 25-year anniversary of Prozac in December 2012, it’s both a memoir of the author’s struggle with depression (and her identity, from the age of 17, as someone with a "chemical imbalance"), and an investigation of how antidepressants have shaped the lives of a generation (spanning X and Y) who’ve quite literally grown up on them -- something no other book has covered to date.

In the course of her narrative of ten years spent on Zoloft, Sharpe gives readers a brisk but thorough introduction to the history of theories of depression and antidepressant medications (from Hippocrates’ four humors to Abilify), and interviews dozens of long-term young antidepressant takers, from teenagers to 30-somethings, adding their varied stories of ambivalence and acceptance to her own. She also interviews doctors, therapists, and activists like Sascha Scatter -- founder of the anti-antidepressant Icarus Project -- who pitch vehement arguments for and against the widespread use of antidepressants today. Woven together, these strands make for a rich and thoughtful narrative about depression and young people today, painting a broad picture that other depression memoirs have failed to encompass.

COMING OF AGE ON ZOLOFT is a book for the ten percent of all Americans who now take antidepressants, specifically for those whose relationship to medication began at a time when their adult identities were just beginning to emerge. Sharpe’s personal story isn’t a melodramatic saga of suicide attempts or hospital stays, but rather a relatable narrative that matches the majority of antidepressant takers’ experience with depression and treatment. And Sharpe is herself neither a pharmaceutical promoter nor an anti-drug zealot, but in the course of COMING OF AGE ON ZOLOFT she raises important questions: yes, antidepressants are an invaluable tool for treating major depression in people of all ages, and many of her generation could not have finished college without them. But what does it mean to be told there’s "something wrong with your brain"? Are we really more miserable than we used to be? Does widespread antidepressant use mean we’re curing a disease, or becoming intolerant of ’normal’ sadness? And do the ten percent of all Americans who now take antidepressants really need them? Sharpe is skeptical. She questions the current DSM-IV view of depression as an endogenous disease, and makes an argument for a return to a more nuanced view of depression that’s hard to refute.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 《抗抑郁岁月》（COMING OF AGE ON ZOLOFT）讲的是第一代使用抗抑郁药物的成长过程。2012年12月正好赶上其25年周年纪念，既是作者与低落抗争的回忆录（17开始化学药物不平衡），也是一项关于抗抑郁药物如何改变一代人的生活，是迄今为止没有任何书籍有涉及到的。

在她描述的十年抗抑郁药物使用过程上，夏普简洁透彻的介绍了情绪低迷以及抗抑郁冥想的历史理论，还采访了许多长期服食抗抑郁药物的青年，从青少年到30岁的不等，将他们举棋不定的故事加入她自己的。她还采访了医生、理疗家以及像萨斯查•斯卡特（Sascha Scatter）之辈的行为家，就是他力荐抗抑郁药物的广泛使用。这些综合到一起就汇聚成了一部有思想有内容的书目，描写了今日的青少年遇到的消极情绪。

美国有10%的人服用抗抑郁药物，尤其是那些刚刚步入成年行列的人群，这些人都是此书的受众。夏普的个人故事不是陈腐的试图自杀或困在医院的传说，而是描述了抑郁患者与消极情绪与治疗过程的经历。而她本身既不是药剂推销师，也不是忠实的反药者，在写书的过程中，她提出了重要的问题：抗抑郁药物对所有年龄阶段的患者都有重要疗效，甚至许多同龄人因此丧失了上大学的机会。但是，这些个与“脑子出了问题”有何关系？我们真的要比过去更悲哀么？抗抑郁药物的广泛使用就是证明我们正在治愈这种疾病还是已经麻木不仁习以为常？那10%的美国人真的需要抗抑郁药物？夏普本身很怀疑。她质疑了目前认为抑郁是有内因而生的疾病，提出了自己的观点。(XJJ)

Awards/获奖情况：Rights Sold: Brazil to Autentica Editora

About the Author/作者介绍： 凯瑟琳•夏普(Katherine Sharpe) 生于1979年。自从她在康奈尔大学完成硕士学位之后，就以写作为生，甘当自由作家和记者，为n+1，华盛顿邮报杂志，好杂志、乡村之音、布鲁克林铁路、种子杂志等执笔。她目前是readymade的网络编辑，受雇于《今日心理》（Psychology Today）。

Katherine Sharpe was born in 1979. She’s made her living as a freelance writer and journalist since completing her master’s degree in English at Cornell, writing for n+1, The Washington Post Magazine, GOOD magazine, The Village Voice, the Brooklyn Rail, ReadyMade, Seed Magazine, and McSweeney’s. She is now the online editor for ReadyMade, and was offered a job at Psychology Today

Format:TRADE PAPERBACK

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

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