Laura Delano

I traded real human connection for my phone, nature for concrete, sunlight for screen glow, movement for the sofa, sleep for endless stimulation, real food for processed junk and intimacy for instant gratification. Psychiatry didn’t recognise this as a predictable response to the unnatural conditions of modern life. Instead, they labelled it a “disorder” and prescribed me an antidepressant. That drug numbed me so thoroughly that I no longer noticed how far I had drifted from myself. It allowed the disconnection to continue while I remained a spectator in my own life. Looking back on the last ten years on the drug feels like looking at someone else’s existence. Only now, on a very low dose (down from 150mg to just 3mg), is the fog finally lifting. After three years of protracted withdrawal, on the days I’m well enough, I choose to sit in the forest, feeling the sun on my skin and the earth beneath my feet, slowly remembering what it feels like to be human again.

Ella Emhoff, stepdaughter of former Vice President Kamala Harris, from 16 December last year: "...I'm just sitting here crocheting, waiting for a friend, and I was just listening to this podcast that The Wall Street Journal put out about SSRIs and anti-anxiety meds and kind of the over-prescription of them in America. "And it was making me think a lot because I've been on SSRIs for over a decade, almost fifteen years probably, and they were calling out the lack of research on long-term use of these things. "They were calling out the lack of information that doctors give about coming off of these meds and kind of the psychological effects they can have. "And it really got me thinking how little I've thought about that, naively, obviously. "But I've noticed that every time I've gone off of it for a week or missed it or for whatever reason, like, it has been really hard for me, and I've had a really hard time. "And I guess this is just something I was wondering if you guys have thought about or relate to or kind of consider when you're thinking about going on meds like that. "Because I don't know if this is something that I feel like is being talked about enough because I feel like so many of us are on these meds, and this is, like, actually happening. "Like, people get off of them, and they kind of break down, and it can be really bad. So yeah, I guess I just want your general thoughts."

“I’m 23 years old… and my clitoris is completely numb, like the back of my elbow. I can’t orgasm. I can’t feel love for my own mother. I can’t even enjoy music anymore.” That was Laureen Friedman’s raw testimony at a recent Safety Advocates on Mental Health Care panel. She lives with PSSD — Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction. After taking Zoloft, she woke up one day with total genital numbness, zero libido, permanent inability to orgasm, and a sudden emotional numbness she describes as “chemical castration” and an “emotional lobotomy.” What used to be a deeply emotional, empathetic, songwriting young woman now feels disconnected from the core human experiences of love and pleasure. She says she was never warned this could happen even after stopping the drug. Millions are prescribed SSRIs every year, often without being told about rare but potentially permanent side effects like PSSD. People deserve full informed consent about what they’re risking. Have you or anyone you know experienced lasting sexual or emotional side effects from antidepressants?