Review of "When Words Are Not Enough"
By Valerie Davis Raskin, M.D.Broadway Books, 1997
Review by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on Feb 24th 2001

Divided into two main sections, the first part of the book runs through the major disorder confronting most women today, such as clinical depression, premenstrual depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, and sleep disturbances. An advocate of medication for helping treat these disorders, the author carefully delineates how medication can help in these instances, but is not a "cure-all." Psychotherapy is usually an additional necessary component of treatment, and the author doesn't give it short-shrift in this section.
However, the other half of the book neatly summarizes how medications affect most people for the different disorders. The last three chapters specifically deal with pregnancy and medication, which will be helpful to any woman is contemplating becoming pregnant and needs to grapple with her medication options and needs.
I generally found this to be a balanced book, with an emphasis on medication issues in keeping with the author's background and professional training. If you're not open to medication as a treatment option, I doubt this book will convince you otherwise. But if you are already taking medication to help with a disorder, or are contemplating doing so, this book will be an invaluable guide to helping you make decisions and understanding the effects on your body.
The book contains over 300 pages and 12 chapters, and also has two great appendices with specifics on antidepressant and antianxiety medications.