01/13/2026
A good read for all to be better informed. There’s no informed consent anymore and I am certain, people don’t get one with these meds. Many times, let’s take women, will get put on these while going through a divorce. Divorce sucks! It’s hard!! But should we always mask it with meds? Don’t you need to feel these emotions to make a change? Nonetheless, providers put people on these meds with absolutely NO intention on ever getting them off. A hyperbolic taper is a must for most. Providers don’t understand this and it leaves patients in a bad place.
STOP Getting Antidepressants From Your Family Doctor
Entrusting your brain chemistry to someone who talks to you for seven minutes a couple times a year may be one of the biggest mistakes of your life.
I’m Dr. Josef. I’m a board-certified psychiatrist, a former FDA medical officer, and I specialize in helping people safely come off psychiatric medications after they’ve been harmed by them. And I need to be very clear about something. Having untrained doctors prescribe antidepressants is not just bad care. In many cases, it is malpractice.
Most family doctors do not understand the problem they are trying to fix. They don’t have the time or incentive to understand why you’re depressed. In ten years of practice, I’ve seen that most depression and anxiety comes down to a handful of root causes: relationship problems or loneliness, work dissatisfaction, poor physical health driven by diet and lack of exercise, substance overuse including caffeine, ni****ne, and cannabis, and unresolved trauma. These are not serotonin deficiencies. But most patients are never asked about any of this. It is simply faster to give a diagnosis and write a prescription.
Most family doctors also do not understand how these drugs actually work. The chemical imbalance theory was debunked decades ago, yet many still believe antidepressants are like insulin for diabetes. That belief leads to shallow check-ins and dose adjustments instead of asking the real questions about how the drug is affecting your relationships, your motivation, your personality, and the direction of your life. Emotional numbing is not healing, even though it can feel like relief at first.
Then there’s what happens after the prescription. For many people, nothing. No plan. No timeline. No conversation about coming off. These medications are treated like a box that’s been checked. That is unacceptable. Antidepressants carry real risks, including weight gain, metabolic issues, sexual dysfunction, and growing evidence of cognitive decline with long-term use. Parking someone on these drugs indefinitely without a strategy is a failure of care.
Finally, most doctors do not understand the long-term risks. Clinical trials rarely last longer than a year. We do not have good evidence that these medications are safe or effective long term. Many patients develop tolerance. Some get worse. A subset develop antidepressant-induced dysphoria, with fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, and low motivation. When doctors don’t recognize this, they mislabel it as worsening depression or treatment resistance and escalate the very drug causing the problem.
If your doctor sees you for seven minutes twice a year and manages your mental health, please do not tell yourself this is quality care. Trust your gut. This is not okay.
