Episode Details

⚠️ The views in this episode are Dr. Teralyn Sell's professional opinions and personal experience. This conversation is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Never start, stop, or change a prescribed medication without consulting your doctor — stopping some medications suddenly can be dangerous.

Dr. Teralyn Sell is a psychotherapist and PhD with a background that spans maximum-security prisons, addiction treatment, and nearly 15 years in private practice. In this wide-ranging conversation, she shares a perspective the addiction and mental health worlds are only beginning to reckon with: that many people leaving addiction behind are being moved straight into long-term dependency on psychiatric medication — and that no one is being told the full cost.

Drawing on her own seven years on antidepressants and her clinical work, Dr. Teralyn digs into the emotional numbing and sexual side effects that often go unmentioned, why she believes the popular "chemical imbalance" explanation for depression isn't supported by the research, why she considers coming off SSRIs harder for many people than detoxing from heroin, and how the same "you'll need this forever" message shows up in both psychiatric medication and long-term Suboxone use. She also shares what she's seen actually help the brain heal — nutrition, sleep, movement, connection, and trauma work — and why she believes in the brain's capacity to recover.

Whether you agree with all of it or none of it, it's a thought-provoking conversation about questions worth asking your own doctor.

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