Generation on Antidepressants Searches for the Exit
Giving her son psychiatric medication at 9 years old was not a decision Ms. LaBar took lightly. She thought about it every night for a week, then called the doctor and asked for a prescription at the lowest dose that would help him get unstuck from inside his own head.
More than 20 years later, as an adult, Mr. LaBar looks back on that moment with ambivalence and regret. It was the start of a prolonged pharmaceutical spiral that kept him on medication without egress. He believes that the years he spent on antidepressants kept him from feeling the full range of his emotions — from living a full authentic life, even. He was not alone: When he described his experience online, he encountered a multitude of others who had a similar story.
The release of Prozac, the first S.S.R.I. antidepressant, in 1988 was hailed as a revolution in psychiatric treatment. S.S.R.I.s were safer, with less burdensome side effects, than previous kinds of antidepressants; in the coming decades Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro and other drugs were readily prescribed to tens of millions of Americans. Far less thought, however, was given to how to take patients off them.
For what condition, whether diagnosed or suspected (menopause, chronic fatigue, anxiety, etc.), did you seek care for yourself or a loved one? What symptoms were present, and how long did it take for you to begin looking for answers?
