Book review

Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America. By Elizabeth Wurtzel (New York: Riverhead Books, Inc 1994). 368 pp.


Introduction

‘Prozac Nation’ is a memoir by a young and depressed woman in America. There are no premises and conclusions being presented in the story. It does not seek to explain the concept of depression or why it occurs, it was a collection of fragmented thoughts, feelings and reactions towards events that occurred during her period of depression. The tone used throughout the book evokes the pity of the reader, appealing to seek the reader’s agreement on the subjects discussed. The author commits a fallacy of over-generalisation, whereby her views are used to represent the general population of the young and depressed in America without reference to any research study.
The author uses her life story as the basis of the book, attributing meanings to the events that occur. The life of the author occurs in the era of post-modernism, whereby her thoughts and family background are influenced by the movement. Her mother was educated in Cornell University while her father was a low-level employee in a large organization. They divorced shortly after they had a child due to clashing value systems. Her anger at their failure to understand her turned into self-destruction and depression which persisted into her adulthood. She reached the turning point of her life after coming close to death from taking a drug overdose, coupled with prescribed Prozac.



Analysis of content
The background of the author has been reiterated by her therapist as dysfunctional (p. 43). The author uses a tone of self-pity to convince the reader into accepting and understanding her from her perspective by describing the scenarios and thoughts vividly, such as “There was never enough money for anything, my mom had to sue my dad for unpaid child support and bills, my dad eventually disappeared… In college, I can remember sitting around dorm rooms…comparing family horror stories with my new friends…I always won that contest.” (p. 33) Excuses such as losing her identity and “forgetting how to function in a world that is normal and nondepressive” (p. 347) were made to influence the reader. In the epilogue, she feels angry that the ‘world’ is taking Prozac without having genuine depression, which dismisses what she had gone through. She did not identify any concrete reasons for her depression though she appeals to pity to convince the reader that she had genuinely suffered from a very deep depression.
The manner of presentation is colloquial, for example “I mean, is there anybody out there who doesn’t think her family is dysfunctional?” (p. 34) which “replaces the laborious task of presenting evidence and rational argument with expressive language and other devises calculated to excite enthusiasm, excitement, anger or hate” (Copi et al, 1998) The thoughts presented were not constructed to be controversial and are personal statements which do not require any falsification. An example would be “Rock bottom is everything out of focus. It’s a failure of vision, a failure to see the world as it is, to see the good in what it is.” which requires the reader to agree or disagree depending on his personal perspective.
The author supports ideas from other literary texts, such as Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett (p. 302). She drew a parallel between herself and the characters in Waiting For Godot, where the two tramps waited under a bare tree waiting for Godot to come and save them from their plight. This juxtaposition between the author and the characters in Waiting For Godot gives the reader a mental picture of her interpretations of the world. This sense of futility of life in her is manifested in “to wake up every morning afraid (she is) going to live” (p. 303). She uses such mental pictures throughout the book, which enhances the process of engaging the reader into understanding her position.

Evaluation
There is a nullifying effect on the reader while reading the book, possibly due to the nature of the subject – depression. Although the book does not contain any arguments which requires logical thinking, it does require to some extent rationality to decipher the negativity which has no bearing on the plot. Her rhetorical style of writing did engage me to empathize with her. However, the effect was lost after reading through the entire book which basically indulges too much in self-pity.
The author has pointed out many interesting ideas and concepts, mostly about the futility of life. This particularly appeals to people who are depressed or on the verge of depression. She included concepts such as existentialism and post-modernity, which have profound philosophical underpinnings, making the book more ‘sophisticated’. The concepts were presented throughout the book prompts the reader to reflect on her own life.
One key point that I have understood from reading this book is that we should not undermine the severity of depression and how it can strike a person at any time, without any valid reasons for being depressed. Her thoughts are vividly described which bring about my awareness on how depressed have been treated and do not want to be treated, for example when her therapist reiterated her life story and situation to her, it does not serve to help her change. Instead, it made her feel more depressed as she dwelled further on her depression. It is common in prisons whereby officers who think that they have a broader picture of the inmates’ lives and may be quick to pinpoint the ‘problems’ that lead to the inmates’ incarceration and how they should go about changing.
The book has described her thoughts going on behind the external stimuli (i.e. her therapy sessions and so on) that she had experienced, which made me reflect on how officers are likely to dismiss the inmates’ thoughts – out of sight, out of mind. It is not uncommon to come across inmates with dysfunctional family background in prisons. The common response would be to repeat the situation all over to them again. This is hardly conducive as it makes them tired of hearing the same thing from everyone all over again.
She had also touched on the fallacy of therapy whereby it is assumed that “revelations” (or self-awareness) of oneself during therapy sessions would “make all the difference”. However, she argued that one would be likely to repeat the same old habits because the emotional tie to these habits are so strong and that is what makes up the identity of the person, to keep him “centered and connected”.
For both inmate and staff, my assumption would be that self-awareness in itself would warrant change. However, the author challenged my assumption due to the difficulty in implementing change and what implications changes would have on one. For example, habits such as procrastination and drugs are difficult to change despite the fact that one is aware of the implications they have. Like the author, it is common for us to test the limits. It is only when we experience an event where these habits are really going to destroy us that we may reach the turning point in our lives. Drug inmates who toy with their lives and not seem to bother with death, may find themselves having a brush with death someday. It could be then that they realize that they treasure their own lives.
Another point is that the author has lived the image of a depressive and drug abuser for many years. She felt that she has no idea how to “function within the boundaries of the normal nondepressive world” (p. 314). These thoughts may occur to some inmates who have taken drugs for decades or having grown up in an environment full of drugs, not knowing how to cope with a change of image to a normal citizen who is drugsfree. They will lose their sense of identity because this is all they have. This prompts me for further reflections on how to better handle inmates with such problems.