Denormalizing Anti-depressants

When you go to a primary care physician or any specialist, what happens at that appointment? They listen to your complaints, and then order testing and bloodwork. When the tests come back they then prescribe medications.

I was only 15-16 years old when I told a doctor I felt “depressed.”

It wasn’t a crisis. It wasn’t a breakdown. It was the emotional overwhelm of being a teenager navigating life, hormones, family, and identity. All normal life problems at that age! But instead of asking about my family life, my nutrition, or my emotional world, I was sent to a psychiatrist.

By 18, I was on multiple antidepressants, an anti-anxiety medication, and a sleep aid.

I had a short fuse and got more angry than any 18 year old should, despite being on so many “uppers” for my mood.

My grandmother would put me down about being on mood stabilizers but never offered support. I felt guilty for being depressed AND for trying to do something about the problem.

Not once did anyone ask about my diet, trauma, stress, or support system.

Not one doctor recommended therapy.

It was pills from the start—and pills for everything.

And so began a 20-year journey of medicated numbness. Not broken, but disconnected.

The Chemical Imbalance Myth

Like millions of others, I was told I had a “chemical imbalance” in my brain- something that would require lifelong medication. That phrase became my identity: a permanent flaw that only a pharmaceutical could correct.

Nothing else could fix me.

It forced me to accept the emotional flatness, the side effects, the disconnection from myself and the ever-present thought:

“I guess this is just who I am now.”

But here’s what I didn’t know:

There is no test for a chemical imbalance.

No blood panel. No scan. No hard evidence.

It’s a theory—one that has never been conclusively proven.

But here’s the problem with that theory: there’s no actual scientific proof of it.

In 2022, a major review published in Molecular Psychiatry concluded there is “no convincing evidence” that depression is caused by low serotonin levels—the very premise upon which SSRI medications are built. No blood test. No brain scan. No biological marker.

Yet, nearly 1 in 5 American women is on an antidepressant today.

Further, antidepressants are still prescribed like candy.

• 13.2% of adults in the U.S. take them.

• Women take them at nearly twice the rate of men.

• Use has skyrocketed in teens and young adults.

We’re medicating the very people who most need tools for resilience, nutrition, and identity—not suppression.

Mental health has been automatically linked to prescription drugs.

Most of the women on my mother’s side take antidepressants for a “chemical imbalance” so I have to too right? Come to find out, trauma and decades of poor diet lead to their need for medications for their mental health.

Instead, sunlight, a sugar free diet, grounding and community needs to be prescribed.

Prior to 2020, I had no idea how much gut health affected our mental health! We are given vaccines which results in taking antibiotics, we eat processed foods and celebrate candy- all that kills the gut micro biome and worsens our mental health.

You can read about that study here.

When I Lost My Body

At age 26, 10 years into treatment, my dose of Citalopram (an SSRI) was increased.

That’s when something deeply disturbing happened:

I lost all sexual feeling.

I don’t mean I wasn’t “in the mood.” I mean:

No sensation. No connection. No desire. No pleasure.

It was like someone had flipped a switch and turned off part of my humanity.

I told the doctors. They dismissed it. “It’s just a side effect,” they said. “It’ll come back.”

But it didn’t.

Years later, I discovered I wasn’t alone. I was interviewed by a psychiatric nurse, David Wayne, earlier this year when I found out I was FAR from alone. I even found community groups based on this side effect.

You can watch our interview here.

There’s now a name for what I lived through:

Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD) — a condition where sexual side effects (numbness, anorgasmia, loss of libido) persist even after discontinuation of the drug.

Recent studies estimate that up to 26% of antidepressant users may experience long-lasting or even permanent sexual dysfunction. Even health agencies in Australia have issued formal warnings: SSRIs and SNRIs “may cause symptoms of sexual dysfunction which have continued despite discontinuation.”

No one warned me. No one told me this was possible. I wish they had.

14 years into my marriage to my beloved husband, and I’m no longer blaming me. The weight melted off my shoulders when I found out what I have experienced all this time was a side effect caused by Big Pharma.

Will We Ever Know All of the Lasting Side Effects?

Antidepressants are still being handed out like candy on Halloween—even in cases where root-cause healing would serve better.

In fact, a 2025 study on nearly 19,000 dementia patients found that those prescribed SSRIs experienced faster cognitive decline, more fractures, and higher mortality rates—especially at higher doses. And yet, these medications continue to be used as a “quick fix” in vulnerable populations.

Why? Because it’s easier to medicate than to investigate. Easier to suppress than to support.

When I Finally Got Off Meds… I Started Feeling Again

When I had previously tried to get off of SSRI’s I had SEVERE side effects that forced me to go back on the meds. When I called the psychiatrist to discuss the withdrawal effects, he suggested we DOUBLE my medications and add Lithium.

He knew that I was trying to get pregnant.

Taking Lithium during pregnancy has been shown to possibly cause miscarriages and birth defects. This was not discussed with me and the script for Lithium was placed.

Thankfully I never picked it up.

More articles have come out recently that suggest a correlation to pregnancy complications and fetal birth defects. A panel of doctors spoke to the FDA this summer discussing the harmful effects of SSRI’s during pregnancy. As many of you know, I’ve been on a fertility journey for over 14 years and this data was very alarming and infuriating to me.

Doctors just want to prescribe the drugs and be done with you. They never want to address the root cause.

At 35, I knew something had to change. I couldn’t pinpoint why—I just felt it in my bones.

The desire to FULLY feel. To find out who I truly am!

Getting off the medications, for ME, was easier than I expected. This was not the first time I had attempted to get off these medications, but I was determined it would be the last.

I believe that I got off of my antidepressants because I had made up my mind that it was time.

I reached out to a naturopathic doctor in early 2021. By that time I had been on a sugar free diet for almost a year. I felt amazing in my skin and mentally felt amazing. I told the doctor about my desires to finally get off of my antidepressant. She said we need to take this slowly but I was determined to get off of them as quickly as possible.

I started a handful of supplements which supported mental support and gut health. Three months after starting them I began weening off of my antidepressant. Within three more months I was off of every pharmaceutical.

My husband told me I began to be more expressive and animated. He said the life had been slowly re injected into me.

What Actually Helped Me Heal (That No Psychiatrist Ever Mentioned)

During 2020 and the first portion of 2021, I focused on avoiding sugar, processed foods, and worked on improving my gut health. I TOLD myself I was healing. I TOLD my self I was not going to rely on Big Pharma anymore. I TOLD myself it was possible to safely get off my high dose of Citralopram.

I’ve rebuilt my mental health using tools that most of the mental health system ignores:

• Real food, rooted in ancestral wisdom and animal nutrition (thank you Weston A. Price)

• Daily habits like sleep, sunlight, connection, and movement

• Supplements to support my mental health

• Faith and self-trust, which replaced the fear of being “broken”

• Prayer

These tools didn’t silence my symptoms. They helped me understand them. They helped me grow stronger. I firmly believe in mind over matter and that’s what ultimately lead me to getting off of these meds safely.

There are actually some doctors who help people get off of their antidepressants! Alex Clark did an interview with one that you can listen to here.

To Anyone Struggling… You’re Not Broken

If you’re reading this and feeling stuck in a haze of medication, I want you to hear me:

You are not broken.

You don’t have a SSRI deficiency.

And your depression might be your soul’s signal—not your brain’s failure.

You deserve more than a prescription pad. You deserve healing at the root.

Life can be HARD. Let’s discuss the natural ways we can improve our mental health instead of turning to mind numbing drugs that can and most likely will have life long side effects.

This isn’t medical advice.

I’m not here to shame anyone on medication—it saved my life at one point, too.

I am here to tell the truth that no one told me: There’s another way. And if you’re ready to explore it, you don’t have to walk it alone.

If this resonates with you, I’d love to hear your story. Let’s break the silence together.