Candace Pert, the discoverer of the opiate binding process that made Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors possible, is an internationally recognized pharmacologist who has published over 250 scientific articles. She received her Ph.D. in pharmacology from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, served as Chief of the Section on Brain Biochemistry of the Clinical Neuroscience Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), held a Research Professorship in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC, and is currently working in a private company developing an AIDS vaccine in addition to treatments for other diseases.
Dr. Pert appeared in the feature film What the Bleep Do We Know!?? and Bill Moyer’s TV program Healing and the Mind. She is the author of the book Molecules of Emotion: The Scientific Basis Behind Mind-Body Medicine (Scribner, 1997), Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d (Hay House, 2006), and the musical guided imagery CD Psychosomatic Wellness: Healing your Body-Mind.
Dr. Pert publicly came out against Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors in October of 1997 in TIME magazine. She boldly stated: “I am alarmed at the monster that Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon Snyder and I created when we discovered the simple binding assay for drug receptors 25 years ago . . . following is the full quote from Dr. Candace Pert’s TIME magazine letter to the editor:
“I am alarmed at the monster that Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon Snyder and I created when we discovered the simple binding assay for drug receptors 25 years ago. Prozac and other antidepressant serotonin-receptor-active compounds may also cause cardiovascular problems in some susceptible people after long-term use, which has become common practice despite the lack of safety studies.
“The public is being misinformed about the precision of these selective serotonin-uptake inhibitors when the medical profession oversimplifies their action in the brain and ignores the body as if it exists merely to carry the head around! In short, these molecules of emotion regulate every aspect of our physiology. A new paradigm has evolved, with implications that life-style changes such as diet and exercise can offer profound, safe and natural mood elevation.”
Dr. Candace B. Pert
Letter to the Editor of TIME Magazine, October 20, 1997, page 8.
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