Prozac Nation author Elizabeth Wurtzel dies at 52

Elizabeth Wurtzel, the author whose memoir Prozac Nation helped change how the world saw mental health, has died at 52.

She was just 27 when the book was published in 1994, a bestseller that became a publishing sensation and helped open up public discussion of depression.

The book's unapologetic, strident tone, describing Ms Wurtzel's experiences with mental illness, led to her being labelled "Sylvia Plath with the ego of Madonna" by The New York Times Book Review.

She died of metastatic breast cancer on Tuesday in New York. After her diagnosis, she became a staunch advocate of testing for the BRCA gene mutation, which can cause the cancer and to which Ashkenazi women are more susceptible.

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Prozac Nation author Elizabeth Wurtzel dies at 52

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