Prozac Nation
The movie Prozac Nation is about Lizzie, a young woman starting college at Harvard on a full Journalism scholarship. The movie, based on the book of the same name, is a true story written by the person who lived it, Elizabeth Wurztel. The setting is the college’s campus and takes place in the mid-1980s.
From the beginning of the movie, we learn that she began cutting, a form of self-mutilation, at age 12. Her parents divorced when she was two, her father mostly uninvolved in her life and her mother “too much involved” (Miller & Skjoldbjaerg, 2001). Life at college begins normal for Lizzie and she befriends her roommate Ruby. She meets Noah at a party, who introduces her to X, or ecstasy, and eventually loses her virginity to …show more content…
Lizzie’s symptoms are depressed mood; markedly diminished interest or pleasure in activities (her writing); insomnia, fatigue and loss of energy; diminished ability to think, concentrate, or make decisions; recurrent thoughts of death, suicide ideation, and suicide attempts (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Durand & Barlow, 2016).
What Caused Lizzie’s Depression and the Contribution of Genetics
For “psychological disorders, evidence indicates that genetic factors make some contribution to all disorders but account for less than half of the explanation” (Durand & Barlow, 2016). Adverse life events “such as a ‘chaotic’ childhood can overwhelm the influence of genes” (Durand & Barlow, 2016).
There is no doubt that Lizzie had a chaotic childhood with divorced parents. In the book Prozac Nation, Lizzie says she grew up in a female-headed household, her mother was always unemployed or marginally employed, and her father was always uninvolved or marginally involved in her life (Wurtzel, 1994). Lizzie states that her family has a history of mental problems, cousins who attempted suicide, a great-grandmother who died in an asylum, a grandfather that was an alcoholic, a grandmother “with the terrible melancholia”, and her father (Wurtzel, …show more content…
In reality, she was prescribed lithium – a mood stabilizer, Prozac – an anti-depressant, desipramine – another anti-depressant, Inderal to counteract the hand shaking and other tremors from the side effects of lithium, and Desyrel for sleeping (Wurtzel, 1994; Durand & Barlow, 2016). Wurtzel writes in her book that “taking drugs breeds taking more drugs” (Wurtzel, 1994, loc. 275).
Other forms of treatment include electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). ECT was the most controversial form of treatment of psychological disorders after psychosurgery (Durand & Barlow, 2016). ECT is considerably changed today and is safe and effective for treatment of extreme depression that does not respond to medication (Durand & Barlow, 2016). TMS uses a localized electromagnetic pulse and some observations and reviews have confirmed that TMS is effective (Durand & Barlow, 2016). The future of nondrug approaches for treatment of depression includes vagus nerve stimulation through a pacemaker-like device and deep brain stimulation that places electrodes in the limbic system that connects to a pacemaker-like device (Durand & Barlow,
The movie Prozac Nation is about Lizzie, a young woman starting college at Harvard on a full Journalism scholarship. The movie, based on the book of the same name, is a true story written by the person who lived it, Elizabeth Wurztel. The setting is the college’s campus and takes place in the mid-1980s.
From the beginning of the movie, we learn that she began cutting, a form of self-mutilation, at age 12. Her parents divorced when she was two, her father mostly uninvolved in her life and her mother “too much involved” (Miller & Skjoldbjaerg, 2001). Life at college begins normal for Lizzie and she befriends her roommate Ruby. She meets Noah at a party, who introduces her to X, or ecstasy, and eventually loses her virginity to …show more content…
Lizzie’s symptoms are depressed mood; markedly diminished interest or pleasure in activities (her writing); insomnia, fatigue and loss of energy; diminished ability to think, concentrate, or make decisions; recurrent thoughts of death, suicide ideation, and suicide attempts (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Durand & Barlow, 2016).
What Caused Lizzie’s Depression and the Contribution of Genetics
For “psychological disorders, evidence indicates that genetic factors make some contribution to all disorders but account for less than half of the explanation” (Durand & Barlow, 2016). Adverse life events “such as a ‘chaotic’ childhood can overwhelm the influence of genes” (Durand & Barlow, 2016).
There is no doubt that Lizzie had a chaotic childhood with divorced parents. In the book Prozac Nation, Lizzie says she grew up in a female-headed household, her mother was always unemployed or marginally employed, and her father was always uninvolved or marginally involved in her life (Wurtzel, 1994). Lizzie states that her family has a history of mental problems, cousins who attempted suicide, a great-grandmother who died in an asylum, a grandfather that was an alcoholic, a grandmother “with the terrible melancholia”, and her father (Wurtzel, …show more content…
In reality, she was prescribed lithium – a mood stabilizer, Prozac – an anti-depressant, desipramine – another anti-depressant, Inderal to counteract the hand shaking and other tremors from the side effects of lithium, and Desyrel for sleeping (Wurtzel, 1994; Durand & Barlow, 2016). Wurtzel writes in her book that “taking drugs breeds taking more drugs” (Wurtzel, 1994, loc. 275).
Other forms of treatment include electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). ECT was the most controversial form of treatment of psychological disorders after psychosurgery (Durand & Barlow, 2016). ECT is considerably changed today and is safe and effective for treatment of extreme depression that does not respond to medication (Durand & Barlow, 2016). TMS uses a localized electromagnetic pulse and some observations and reviews have confirmed that TMS is effective (Durand & Barlow, 2016). The future of nondrug approaches for treatment of depression includes vagus nerve stimulation through a pacemaker-like device and deep brain stimulation that places electrodes in the limbic system that connects to a pacemaker-like device (Durand & Barlow,