Transformation of Personality Peter D. Kramer, M.D. Psychology Today July / August 1993 8 Pages Peter D. Kramer, M.D. tells of his first experience with Prozac involving a woman named Tess. Tess was the eldest of 10 children, born to a passive mother and an alcoholic father. Tess was physically and sexually abused as a child. When Tess was 12 her father dies and her mother entered a clinical depression from which she never recovered. Tess was then …showed first 75 words of 338 total…

…showed last 75 words of 338 total…she was slipping. She liked the feeling of stability that Prozac gave her. Dr. Kramer was then left to decide whether or not to prescribe Prozac to a patient who was not depressed. Again on Prozac, Tess responded as she had hoped, self-assurance, renewed confidence, and social comfort. Not all patients on Prozac respond this way. Some are unaffected, some merely recover from depression as they might on any medication. But a few are transformed.