STATES OF MINDWenatche. WA
This hasn't been the best year for Wenatchee, Washington. In
December 1993, the conservative farming town gained unwanted fame as
"Prozac capital of the world" following reports that a local psychologist
had put most of his 700 patients on the antidepressant.
While the psychologist, Jim Goodwin, Ph.D., became a minor
celebrity, championing Prozac on "Oprah" and CNN's "Sonja Live,"
Wenatchee was portrayed in papers as far away as France as a town of
unnaturally tranquil rubes "The impression," gripes one local reporter,
"was that if people here seemed happier than people in Seattle or New
York, it was because we were all on drugs."
Now, just as the fuss has died away, it's likely to start up again.
After ordering Goodwin in for--yes--psychiatric evaluation, state health
department officials will soon decide whether to hold a hearing on his
professional competence. According to state records, the 47-year-old
psychologist coerced patients into taking Prozac and may himself have
been incapacitated by prolonged Prozac use.
Goodwin defends what he describes as his pioneering diagnostic
approach. "There is a huge amount of unrecognized depression out there,"
he argues. "I was just a little bit early in making the
diagnosis."
In many ways, Wenatchee's Prozac experience mirrors the national
debate over this best-selling mood-lifter. Some of Goodwin's former
patients say he considered Prozac as a cure-all---an attitude that many
experts feel is beth widespread and ill-advised.
Seattle psychologist Gary Wenet, spokesman for the Washington State
Psychological Association, worries that Prozac is too often prescribed by
health-care practitioners in lieu of more comprehensive therapy, largely
because many of them lack psychological training. And psychologists, says
Wenet, "are not necessarily trained in prescribing medication." Indeed,
as more psychologists refer clients to general practitioners for
prescriptions, Wenet says, the specialists best suited to assess
medication needs--psychiatrists--"are being left out of the loop."
Yet Goodwin's enthusiasm for Prozac is not without local defenders.
Some of his more appreciative patients have appeared on national talk
shows; others clashed last spring with members of the national Prozac
Survivors Group, an anti-Prozac organization that held its annual
conference in Wenatchee. "He does things differently, but he's getting
results," said Susan Barker, a Goodwin patient, in a February interview
with the Wenatchee World. "I guess what's intriguing [to outsiders] is
that small-town people aren't supposed to be taking stuff like this, or
if we do, we aren't supposed to be talking about it."
Ironically, while Prozac may have tarnished Wenatchee's wholesome
'rural image, the town is far from qualifying as the true Prozac Capital.
In June, Prozac maker Eli Lilly and Company revealed that Wenatchee is
actually slightly below the national average in per capita Prozac
consumption.
And the real Prozac Capital? Lilly won't divulge--it's a corporate
secret.
Meanwhile, Goodwin faces 17 formal complaints by former patients,
some of whom say he diagnosed them as depressed within minutes of meeting
them, then insisted they start on Prozac.
To Goodwin, the real issue is the profession's resistance to new
ideas and methods. "Freud really is dead," he says. "But it's very hard
for the people who run this business to understand that. If you've got a
treatment for the common cold of mental illness, use it."
The hearing is likely to rekindle Wenatchee's Prozac image--which,
ironically, is fine by some locals. Since the story broke last December,
the town has received national press for, among other things, disastrous
forest fires and a series of bizarre murders.
ILLUSTRATION
Tags:
depression,
diagnostic approach,
farming town,
gary wenet,
health care practitioners,
health department officials,
jim goodwin,
local psychologist,
minor celebrity,
misdiagnose,
mood lifter,
national debate,
Oprah,
over-medicate,
professional competence,
prozac,
psychiatric evaluation,
psychological training,
state health department,
state psychological association,
wenatchee washington
