Episode Details

Are Americans being overprescribed psychiatric drugs — and could the way we treat anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems actually be creating a dangerous prescribing cascade? I’m joined by psychiatrist Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring for a deep examination of America's mental illness epidemic and psychiatric drug crisis. Using the Lindsay Clancy case as a starting point, Dr. Witt-Doerring examines what happens when patients are rapidly placed on multiple psychiatric medications, experience new or worsening symptoms, and are then prescribed additional drugs to address the side effects of the original treatment. The bigger question is whether America has created a health care system that treats symptoms while ignoring the lifestyle, social, family, and economic conditions contributing to the mental health crisis. We cover the gambit of issues — from SSRIs, antidepressants, and psychiatric drugs to the underlying causes of conditions like ADHD, postpartum depression, and anxiety among women. 

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