Best Selling Books by Peter D. Kramer

The New York Times bestselling examination of the revolutionary antidepressant, with a new introduction and afterword reflecting on Prozac’s legacy and the latest medical research “Peter Kramer is an analyst of exceptional sensitivity and insight. To read his prose on virtually any subject is to be provoked, enthralled, illuminated.” —Joyce Carol Oates When antidepressants like Prozac first became available, Peter D. Kramer prescribed them, only to hear patients say that on medication, they felt different—less ill at ease, more like the person they had always imagined themselves to be. Referencing disciplines from cellular biology to animal ethology, Dr. Kramer worked to explain these reports. The result was Listening to Prozac, a revolutionary book that offered new perspectives on antidepressants, mood disorders, and our understanding of the self—and that became an instant national and international bestseller. In this thirtieth anniversary edition, Dr. Kramer looks back at the influence of his groundbreaking book, traces progress in the relevant sciences, follows trends in the use and public understanding of antidepressants, and assesses potential breakthroughs in the treatment of depression. The new introduction and afterword reinforce and reinvigorate a book that the New York Times called “originally insightful” and “intelligent and informative,” a window on a medicine that is “telling us new things about the chemistry of human character.”

"Deeply felt... [Kramer''s] book is a polemic against a society that accepts depression as a fact of life." —O, The Oprah Magazine A profound look at depression by the author of The New York Times Bestseller, Listening to Prozac In his landmark bestseller Listening to Prozac, Peter Kramer revolutionized the way we think about antidepressants and the culture in which they are so widely used. Now Kramer offers a frank and unflinching look at the condition those medications treat: depression. Definitively refuting our notions of "heroic melancholy," he walks readers through groundbreaking new research—studies that confirm depression''s status as a devastating disease and suggest pathways toward resilience. Thought-provoking and enlightening, Against Depression provides a bold revision of our understanding of mood disorder and promises hope to the millions who suffer from it.

Through fascinating case histories and revealing encounters with patients, Dr. Peter Kramer, author of the international bestseller Listening to Prozac, provides a compassionate, immensely eloquent view of how psychiatry really works. Dr. Kramer was recently asked to guest host The Infinite Mind, a weekly public radio show focusing on the art and science of the human mind and spirit, behavior, and mental health. Listen to the show now.

In his phenomenal bestseller Listening to Prozac, Peter Kramer explored the makeup of the modern self. Now, in his superbly written new book, he focuses his intelligent, compassionate eye on the complexities of partnerships and why intimacy is so difficult for us. With the art of a novelist and the skill of a brilliant psychiatrist, Kramer addresses advice seekers struggling with such complex questions as: How do we choose our partners? How well do we know them? How do mood states affect our assessment of them and theirs of us? What does “working on a relationship” truly entail? When should we try to improve a relationship, and when should we leave? Equally at home with Shakespeare, Emerson, and Kierkegaard as it is with Freud and Jung, Should You Leave? is a literary tour de force from a uniquely insightful observer and a profoundly resonant and helpful approach to resolving dilemmas of the heart.

When Peter D. Kramer wrote about his work with psychiatric patients in books like Listening to Prozac and Should You Leave?, Joyce Carol Oates said, “To read his prose on virtually any subject is to be provoked, enthralled, illuminated.” When Kramer switched to fiction, Publishers Weekly wrote, “The depth, quality, and ambition of Kramer’s prose will surprise those expecting a superficial crossover effort.” In his new novel, Death of the Great Man, Kramer uses those literary skills to introduce readers to an unforgettable character, Henry Farber, a well-meaning psychiatrist forced into hiding when the nation’s chief executive—a narcissistic autocrat in his disastrous second term—is found dead on the consulting room couch. From an isolated bungalow, Farber sets out to clear his name while offering an intimate view of a flawed populist leader. What begins as comic mystery and political satire matures into a moving journey of self-exploration and a commentary on the fate of truth-telling in an era when lying has become a norm in public life.

Finding himself the idealized center of a media circus, a terrorist who is also an English professor recounts his exploits in a letter to his estranged son. In this fictional debut, the author of "Listening to Prozac" brilliantly illuminates contemporary sensibilities and their often astonishing effects on the way lives unfold.

"Kramer succeeds in reconciling the two Freuds—the inventor of the modern mind and the false saint—and that is a considerable achievement." — Washington Post Referred to as "the father of psychoanalysis," Sigmund Freud is credited with championing the "talking cure" and charting the human unconscious. Both revered and reviled, he was a brilliant innovator but also a man of troubling contradictions—sometimes tyrannical, often misrepresenting the course and outcome of his treatments to make the "facts" match his theories. Peter D. Kramer—acclaimed author, practicing psychiatrist, and a leading national authority on mental health—offers a stunning new take on this controversial figure. Kramer is at once critical and sympathetic, presenting Freud the mythmaker, the storyteller, the writer whose books will survive among the classics of our literature, and the genius who transformed the way we see ourselves. "A refreshing and thorough work that readers of all levels of familiarity with Freud''s work can appreciate." — Publishers Weekly "Excellent." — Booklist "A clear and sometimes eloquent introduction to the life and thought of the world''s first shrink." — Kirkus Reviews

"An eminent psychologist and writer discusses the value of antidepressant drugs"--Provided by publisher.

No hay nada de romántico en el sufrimiento de la depresión. Daña las neuronas y el corazón, altera el funcionamiento del cerebro, trastorna la perspectiva y el juicio personales, e interfiere con la vida familiar. Reúne todos los requisitos para ser combatida como «la enfermedad más devastadora conocida por la humanidad», y, sin embargo, cotidianamente la abordamos, como mucho, con cierta condescendencia. La depresión, vinculada en nuestra cultura a una larga tradición de «melancolía heroica», es a menudo entendida como una fuente de creatividad o incluso de atractiva sensualidad. Peter D. Kramer reconstruye esta idílica perspectiva y la refuta con una contundente e innovadora visión de la ciencia que estudia los trastornos anímicos, un campo en el que se han efectuado grandes avances en el pasado decenio. Autor de Escuchando al Prozac, el libro que conmocionó a millones de lectores en el mundo, Peter D. Kramer comparte su experiencia con personas enfermas en una lectura tan entretenida como estimulante. Y ofrece una excelente ayuda para que todo individuo o entorno familiar afectado pueda enfrentarse a la depresión y cambie su perspectiva de lo que es una vida plena.

In diesem Werk untersucht der Psychiater Peter D. Kramer die umstrittene Rolle von Antidepressiva. Mit langjähriger klinischer Erfahrung und wissenschaftlicher Expertise hinterfragt er die wachsende Skepsis gegenüber diesen Medikamenten. Kramer weist auf Schwachstellen in der Forschung hin, analysiert die Macht der Pharmaindustrie und wägt zwischen klinischen Studien und Patientenerfahrungen ab. Dabei bleibt er empathisch und zeigt, dass Antidepressiva zwar keine Wundermittel sind, aber vielen Menschen helfen können, ein normales Leben zu führen. Sein Buch verbindet wissenschaftliche Analyse mit persönlichen Fallgeschichten und plädiert für eine fundierte, aber pragmatische Anwendung von Antidepressiva in der psychiatrischen Praxis.

Kritische inleiding op Freud (1856-1939) en de psychoanalyse in de vorm van een bespreking van zijn belangrijkste geschriften.