SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – One in six Americans takes or has taken antidepressants, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Recent comments by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about a common type of drug used to treat anxiety and depression have some Americans worried. Local mental health professionals say it’s important to work with your mental health team to make the best decision for you.
For Stacy Fox, music isn’t just something she teaches—it’s part of her mental health journey. After a severe downturn just days after graduation, she says she was diagnosed with bipolar I disorder.
“It got so bad that I ended up becoming delirious and ended up in the psych ward. And I lost a lot of weight. I wasn’t eating. I was literally losing my mind. And so, from then, I got diagnosed with bipolar disorder,” Fox said.
Fox says music therapy, family support, and finding the right medication helped her stabilize and keep doing what she loves.
“You have to be diligent to work with your doctors. If your doctors are willing, and some of them are, to change the medicine to find the right dosage. Because it took me probably 10 or 11 different medicines,” Fox said.
Patients raising concerns about medication
Kennedy Jr. says he wants to reduce what he views as over-prescribing SSRIs—a common class of medications used to treat depression and anxiety and promote alternative mental health approaches.
Emily Wouk works for Burrell Behavioral Health as a nurse practitioner in Springfield. She says she’s already hearing concern from patients.
“I’m already seeing patients concerned about the news and the social media that’s going on,” Wouk said. “And I’ve already had a lot of questions from my patients regarding their medications. Some of them have wanted to stop them cold turkey. And it’s a very big risk. And it’s a big decision also. So, it’s a collaborative approach. It’s something that really needs to be considered and talked to with a medical professional.”
Dr. Erica Mahn, a pharmacist with Alps Pharmacy, says it is a process to stop taking SSRIs in a healthy way.
“You really need four to six weeks to work yourself off of the medication so you don’t have abrupt side effects of feeling miserable all of a sudden from not having this medicine that’s been adjusting the chemicals in your brain,” Mahn said.
Doctors say stigma around mental health and medication has improved in recent years, and hope this doesn’t keep people from getting help.
“I’m able to do what I love and work. And I know people that weren’t able to do that because they didn’t think they could with that stigma. But you can, and there is hope,” Fox said.
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