Episode Details
Back to EpisodesAntidepressants Stole My Wife & Marriage with LA's Comedy Cop, Cliff Yates
Description
The spark didn’t just fade—it was blunted. We bring on Cliff Yates, a 35-year veteran of the LA County Sheriff’s Department and stand-up comic, to unpack how SSRIs can quietly reorganize a relationship’s core: intimacy, memory, judgment, and even the stories we tell about each other. Cliff walks us through the gut-punch details—a cruise retold as isolation, affection replaced by aggression, and a warm home recast as a staging ground for divorce—while we map those moments against medication switches, taper attempts, and the confusing dance between “relapse” and withdrawal.
Together we examine the clinical minefield where mania triggered by antidepressants is relabeled as “unmasking bipolar,” where new diagnoses justify more drugs, and where emotional numbing blocks the grief necessary to repair. We explore the neuroscience behind spellbinding—why the medicated reality can feel unimpeachably true to the person on the drug—and how that leaves spouses questioning their sanity. We also confront the social backdrop: skyrocketing antidepressant use, rising “silver divorce,” and a culture that treats pain as pathology while ignoring side effects that fracture connection.
Cliff doesn’t villainize his wife; he sees a system that missed the plot. He shares how he stayed grounded—documenting timelines, seeking corroboration, protecting routines, and finding refuge in humor, tennis, and creative work—while we offer practical guidance on deprescribing basics, slow tapers, and how partners can protect their health, dignity, and voice. If SSRIs have touched your home, this conversation offers language, validation, and a path back to clarity.
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