是大麻還是止痛藥？
 精神藥物耐人尋味的生成史

　　儘管五分之一的美國人至少都有服用一種精神藥物，但事實是，在醫生已開始開處方將近七十年的今天，即便它們的創造者也不清楚這些藥物究竟是如何或為什麼起作用/不起作用，並困擾著我們的大腦。《Blue Dreams》述說這些看似無所不在的藥丸發現與發展的勁爆故事、科學與發明者。

　　《打開史金納的箱子：二十世紀偉大的心理學實驗》作者羅倫‧史蕾特開啟了精神病學藥物的探索之旅，從最早的藥物冬眠靈與鋰，到百憂解與今日其他諸種主要使用的抗抑鬱劑。本書也記載了關於搖頭丸、迷幻蘑菇、最先進的記憶藥物、安慰劑、甚至神經植入物的實驗性治療。史蕾特在對每種治療方法進行徹底的分析之後，提出了三個基本問題：如何產生藥物，如何起作用（或失效），以及為了治療的疾病是什麼？

　　史蕾特統合全面而廣泛的研究成果，成就了精神病學的專史。在這個過程中，她強大而突破性的探索，以新的眼光審視現代精神病學的藥物，揭露它們治愈或者傷害我們的能力。她為需要精神藥物治療與希望了解極限的人都提供了必要的資源，以及，最重要的，我們所了解的人腦和未來治療之可能性。

　　「發人深思...啟發...在這個雄心壯志的任務中，史蕾特應用有力的研究和密切反思與治療精神苦痛有關的問題...最終，作者找到了很大的希望...精神藥物在精神健康問題治療中的作用的一個非常有說服力的評估。」–科克斯書評

　　「一個徹底令人振奮和有趣的作家… Blue Dreams是精神藥物的開創性和啟示性的歷史。」–華盛頓郵報

 
 【文/博客來編譯】
"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.



Lauren Slater is the author of Welcome to My Country, Prozac Diary, Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir, and Opening Skinner’s Box, among other books. She has received numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT.

Opening Skinner’s Box was nominated for best science writing by the Los Angeles Times, and her work has been reprinted numerous times in The Best American Essays. She lives on a farm in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.