205. Brooke Siem on Medicating Unhappiness and SSRI Withdrawal

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comBrooke Siem is the author of the 2022 memoir, May Cause Side Effects, about the decade and a half she spent on anti-depressants (prescribed after her father died when she was 15) and what happened when she ditched them. Sarah is currently on anti-depressants, though she wonders whether she needs them. Nancy is not on SSRIs, though she was part of a gentle brigade who nudged Sarah to increase her dosage last year. This is a complicated knot! The ladies talk about over-medication, how cultural taboos migrate, and the problem with treating sadness, anger, frustration — very human emotions — with a pill. Also discussed:* Nancy suddenly cares about the Navy; Sarah questions this* That time Brooke wore a foxy denim jumper* “Chemical imbalance” is a hoodwink* The “Come Out of the Dark Campaign” meant to eradicate depression stigma leads to an explosion of SSRI prescriptions* SSRIs and orgasm* The opiate epidemic tracks with the anti-depressant era * “Chemical castration” didn’t start with puberty blockers …* 70s-80s Ritalin vogue* Related: Does Ritalin suppress male growth?* Hold up: a link between transitioning genders and SSRIs?* Drinking and depression, a tangled saga* “Headaches are caused by an Advil deficiency”* Beware Wellbutrin* Gothic SSRI withdrawal* “I never boned a cabbie … that I’m aware of.”* That time Sarah went hypomanic …* 1 in 4 American women are on anti-depressants* The hormones and menopause of it all* “Fuck you, person at Whole Foods!”* Big Pharma / Big Food = same playbook, different expression* “Do you bake with yeast?”* WTF with Pol Pot?Plus, boozy cupcakes, a coyote sighting, was Tom Cruise right about pharmaceuticals — and much more!This one’s a banger! Listen to the whole shebang when you become a paid subscriber.