What You Should Know About SSRIs
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) commonly prescribed for depression and anxiety carry a black box warning, the most serious FDA alert. These medications have been shown to increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, adolescents, and young adults, particularly in the first weeks of treatment or when dosages are adjusted.
SSRIs were designed for severe cases and are supposed to be used only in clear psychiatric emergencies. Yet today, they’re being prescribed for everything from mild depression to social anxiety, often after a single appointment.
But here’s the issue: depression and emotional distress are not always emergencies, they’re often signals of something deeper. Trauma, isolation, poor nutrition, chronic stress, and unresolved emotional pain deserve care, not just chemical suppression.
What happens when we medicate emotions instead of understanding them?
We risk blunting natural coping mechanisms, triggering side effects, and in young people increasing the risk of suicidal thoughts, as acknowledged by the FDA’s black box warning on these drugs.
The damage?
A generation taught to pathologize their pain instead of learning to process and heal from it.
Before we normalize a prescription pad as the first response, we need to ask:
Are we treating the root, or just numbing the signal?
Always ask questions. Always do your own research. And always consider the full picture before agreeing to any treatment.
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