Blue Dreams: The Science and the Story of the Drugs That Changed Our Minds

"The closest thing we have to a doyenne of psychiatric disorder."--Village Voice

"The beauty of Lauren Slater's prose is shocking . . . Slater's vision is, ultimately, one of unity and possibility."--Claire Messud, Newsday

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

"Engaging, provocative, and even fun."--New England Journal of Medicine

"With the experience of a patient, the heart of a storyteller, and the lens of a scientist, Lauren Slater chronicles the evolving, perplexing relationship between the physical and the mental."--David Eagleman, New York Times bestselling author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain and host of PBS's The Brain

Praise for Lauren Slater
"An enormously poetic and ebullient writer." --Elle

"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

"A profound and essential look at a phenomenon of our times. Meticulously researched, Blue Dreams is also a deeply moving personal investigation into the drugs so many of us rely upon for our survival. Lauren Slater is much more than a trusted guide: she's a brave and eloquent companion who doesn't shy away from controversy. You'll be talking and thinking about Blue Dreams long after you've read it."--Terri Cheney, New York Times bestselling author of Manic

"Thought-provoking...Enlightening...In this ambitious undertaking, Slater applies vigorous research and intimate reflection to the issues involved with treating mental suffering...Ultimately, the author finds great hope...A highly compelling assessment of the role of psychotropic drugs in the treatment of mental-health issues."--Kirkus 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."--Tony Miksanek, Booklist

"Capacious and rigorous . . . Blue Dreams, like all good histories of medicine, reveals healing to be art as much as science." --Parul Sehgal, New York Times
"Terrific." --@MichaelPollan
"Ambitious...Slater's depictions of madness are terrifying and fascinating." --USA Today
"A vivid and thought-provoking synthesis." --Harper's
A groundbreaking and revelatory history of 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 seventy years after doctors first began prescribing them, not even their creators understand 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 and development of psychiatric medications, as well as the science and the people behind their invention, told by a riveting writer and psychologist who shares her own experience with the highs and lows of psychiatric drugs.
Lauren Slater's revelatory account charts psychiatry's journey from its earliest drugs, Thorazine and lithium, up through Prozac and other major antidepressants of the present. Blue Dreams also chronicles experimental treatments involving Ecstasy, magic mushrooms, the most cutting-edge memory drugs, placebos, and even neural implants. In her thorough analysis of each treatment, Slater asks three fundamental questions: how was the drug born, how does it work (or fail to work), and what does it reveal about the ailments it is meant to treat?
Fearlessly weaving her own intimate experiences into comprehensive and wide-ranging research, Slater narrates a personal history of psychiatry itself. In the process, her powerful and groundbreaking exploration casts modern psychiatry's ubiquitous wonder drugs in a new light, revealing their ability to heal us or hurt us, and proving an indispensable resource not only for those with a psychotropic prescription but for anyone who hopes to understand the limits of what we know about the human brain and the possibilities for future treatments.