The Prozac Hoax

I was part of this, beginning in Silicon Valley in the Nineties - and ending in Costa Rica ten years later.

I had a therapist in the Valley, who diagnosed me as suffering from Depression. In a way, he was right - being in the Valley was an awful experience, for me - for a number of reasons, some of them quite valid.

I had worked for many computer companies, on many projects - and all of them had failed. And most of the companies had gone out of business. And no one saw this as a problem, for anyone to worry about. I saw it as an ongoing disaster.

He only saw I was depressed. But he had a solution for me - Prozac, the wonder pill that would solve my problems. He worked with a Psychiatrist, who gave me a prescription for it, starting off at 10 milligrams a day, when the normal dosage was 20 milligrams. This was powerful stuff, and he wanted to take it easy.

It did nothing for me, so they keep increasing the dosage. And when I moved to Costa Rica, they kept increasing the dosage to 60 milligrams, a very high dosage, that my doctors worried about.

Meanwhile studies were being done, by medical researchers - to determine its effectiveness. Some people were given Prozac, and some people were given a pill with no active ingredient - and the results were compared. There was no difference in the results!

On my own, I decided to reduce my intake down to nothing. immediately. And experienced no ill effects. I was feeling better, because I was in a country that still liked people. And my condition continued to improve.

I do not recommend my solution for everyone - but it was the right one for me.