Blue Dreams

By: Lauren Slater

Narrated by: Betsy Foldes Meiman

A groundbreaking and revelatory history of our major psychotropic drugs, from "a thoroughly exhilarating and entertaining writer." (Washington Post).

Although one in five Americans now takes at least one psychotropic drug, the fact remains that nearly 70 years after doctors first began prescribing them, we still don't know exactly how or why these drugs work - or don't work - on what ails our brains. Blue Dreams offers the explosive story of the discovery, invention, people, and science behind our licensed narcotics, as told by a riveting writer and psychologist who shares her own intimate experience with the highs and lows of psychiatry's drugs. Lauren Slater's account ranges from the earliest, Thorazine and lithium, up through Prozac and other antidepressants, as well as Ecstasy, "magic mushrooms", the most cutting-edge memory drugs, and even neural implants. Along the way, she narrates the history of psychiatry itself, illuminating the imprint its colorful little capsules have left on millions of brains worldwide, and demonstrating how these wonder drugs may heal us or hurt us.

©2018 Lauren Slater (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Weaving together the history of psychopharmacology and her personal experience as a patient, Slater offers readers a candid and compelling glimpse at life on psychiatric drugs and the science behind them . . . Intriguing and instructive." (Booklist)

"Smart, charming, iconoclastic, and inquisitive." (Peter Kramer, author of Listening to Prozac)

"Slater is more poet than narrator, more philosopher than psychologist, more artist than doctor.... Every page brims with beautifully rendered images of thoughts, feelings, emotional states." (San Francisco Chronicle)

"Betsy Foldes-Meiman's clear, down-to-earth narration complements the author's personal approach to her subject... The well-paced narration aids the listener in following the myriad historical events and scientific details." (AudioFile)

History of Mental Health Relalted Drugs

fascinating book with that certainly raises loads of issues, questions, and many concerns all of which have been and will continue to be debated for many many years to come. the personal anecdotes were occasionally a bit distracting from the overall story but maybe that was just part of the distracting nature of this mental health world.

Great synopsis of psychiatry

A good listen for anyone who's on medication. The chapters on SSRIs and placebos seems so damning to the profession that I almost want to hear a rebuttal from psychiatrists, or something. Is the monoamine hypothesis basically nonsense?

Narrator mispronunciations too distracting

This important book is worth it, but please get a new narrator, the mispronunciations are far too numerous and distracting.

Sobering

Lauren Slater was very thorough in her research of the history of mental health treatments. Her reviews of psychotropic drugs have extra meaning, since she is also a "client" who has experienced many of these drugs herself. I work in the mental health field as a counselor so the science of how each drug works in the brain was immensely helpful. I finished the book with more caution about the use of any drug than I was before (hence my review tile), and more open to hallucinogenics for certain cases. Very interesting read.

HIGHLY recommend!!

This is a longer book, but I have thoroughly enjoyed it's entirety. The last several chapters are my favorite, or maybe the last half, although the first half very informative and beneficial! I put it on 2x the speed to lessen the time.

Very informative book

Very informative book and I appreciate the objectivity in which it was written. I also appreciated the mixture of historical information and the author’s personal journey. That said, at times, the language was a bit too flowery for me. Still a very good book!

Very interesting and useful book

I listened the book with great interest. The history of development of psychoactive and therapeutic drugs is amazingly fascinating. Author combines historical perspective and personal struggles with mental desease with great skill. I also liked philosophical aspect of the book.

update on the state treatment for mental illness

story is told from both the personal and historical perspective. a useful reality check for those of us managing mental illness of our loved ones.

Psychotropic medications

So much information about psychotropic medications, how they started, how they changed how we think about mental health, and how much more we have to learn. I highly recommend this book to those who want answers about #psychotropic medications #tagsavings #sweepstakes

It's autobiographical & it's incredibly education

I worked in psych for my career. I found this book highly educational and was a great review of psych meds. though I disagree with the author on Timothy Leary politicizing LSD. I believe it was a political assault by Nixion on the counter culture. Otherwise her courage and lose are clear. An getting an education on psycho active drugs is priceless.