The Dark Side of Antidepressants

Sadness and depression were turned into a business. We were told they were a “chemical imbalance” of the brain fixed with pills, but that was never proven, and the pills (the so-called antidepressants or “SSRIs”) often do more harm than good. This chapter is based on the work of A Midwestern Doctor.

The serotonin myth

It was never shown that depression is from a lack of serotonin. In fact, these pills act in a way similar to cocaine on serotonin, which is why their own label warns of stimulant effects: anxiety, agitation, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, a desperate restlessness called akathisia, and even mania.

Do they really work?

Barely better than a sugar pill. And people quit them: in one review of an antidepressant, 77% more people stopped it because of side effects, and 155% more stopped because of suicidal thoughts, compared to placebo. In another study, more than half quit within four months. If most people feel worse with the pill than without it, something is very wrong.

The harms

They numb the emotions: in one survey, 60% felt “numb,” and 39% cared less about others. They damage sex life: about 59% had problems (low desire, no orgasm, impotence), and often the damage is permanent, even after stopping the pill. And in some they trigger agitation, violence and suicide: they double the risk of suicide, and healthy volunteers became suicidal when taking them. Even tame cats became aggressive on these drugs.

In pregnancy they increase premature births and certain heart defects in the baby. In children they stunt growth. And they are very addictive: quitting them is brutal (dizziness, “brain zaps,” tremors, depression), and almost no doctor knows how to lower the dose carefully. It is precisely at dose changes that most suicides and tragedies happen.

The cover-up

When the first SSRI came out (Prozac), the company did not report psychotic episodes, and in nine years 39,000 complaints arrived. A black-box warning had to be added for the risk of suicide in young people. And there is a link, deliberately kept quiet, between these drugs and mass shootings.

What to do instead

Treat the root, do not cover the symptom. Sometimes the cause is as simple as an excess of copper, easy to correct. Great helpers: eating well (good fat, no sugar or processed food), omega-3, sun, exercise, sleeping well, caring for the gut, and fixing the life situation that has you down. And if you already take the pill, do not stop it cold: lower the dose very slowly and with the help of someone who knows.

To learn more (sources in English)

The dark side of antidepressants: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-dark-side-of-antidepressants

Decades of evidence that SSRI antidepressants are linked to shootings: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-evidence-ssri-antidepressants