ABLECHILD: Lights, Camera, Antidepressants: Psychiatry’s Red Carpet Moment

Lights, Camera, Antidepressants: Psychiatry’s Red Carpet Moment

Republished with permission from AbleChild. 

A recent article written for Yahoo! Life, has Hollywood celebrities being loud and proud about the psychiatric drugs each takes and going as far as to believe this kind of openness about the ladies of tinsel town’s drug use will “cut out the stigma” associated with mental illness. Yep, it’s La La land!

Let’s consider Amanda Batula and Ciara Miller, two “celebrities” that this writer couldn’t identify if life depended on it, who were asked on one red carpet outing “what one small thing had changed their lives.” The two women answered in unison… “Prozac.”  And Batula divulged that her prescription was 10 milligrams, while Miller reported to be at 50 milligrams. The killer line here is “we’re two depressed girls just out her thriving,” said Batula.

The Yahoo reporter writes that “this kind of transparency about mental health would have been startling not so long ago…” Kelsea Ballerini, apparently wanting to be transparent about her mental illness “treatment,” captioned an Instagram post with “brought to you…by Lexapro.” Hayley Williams reportedly named a song “Mirtazapine,” an antidepressant sold under the name of Remeron.  And never let anyone tell you that these Hollywood types like nepo baby Dakota Johnson don’t have a sense of humor as anyone can see when she quipped “I take supplements – like Xanax.

Then there’s Jennifer Lawrence of The Hunger Games fame who has publicly talked about her use of Zurzuvae, an antidepressant, and Presley Gerber (son of Cindy Crawford) has publicly discussed his dependence on psychiatric drugs. And, of course, no one can forget to mention Brooke Shields who wrote about her use of Paxil (antidepressant) and how she was “berated by Tom Cruise for spreading “misinformation.” For the record, Tom Cruise was not wrong about antidepressants.

But here’s the thing, Hollywood has been drugging its “stars” since the advent of silent pictures. Actress Frances Farmer fought the studio system and was drugged and was ultimately committed to a psychiatric institution where she was subjected to harrowing physical abuse. And then there is the all too familiar abuse of Judy Garland who was drugged at Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) to perform and then drugged to sleep in order to keep her working non-stop, ultimately dying at the young age of 47.

Seriously, though, what is most amusing about this article is where these Hollywood types think it’s cool or happening to talk about their psychiatric mind-altering drug use. What they don’t understand is that everyone already suspects most of Hollywood is on some kind of prescription psychiatric drug. What would be interesting is if any of these self-important starlets had any idea about how the drugs “work” and then just a little bit of knowledge about the harm the drugs they are giggling about can cause. Now that would be an interesting story.

To have these starlets discuss the “stigma” associated with being labeled with a mental illness and the use of psychiatric drugs is laughable. That “stigma” thing died decades ago when Mental Health Parity was rammed through Congress, making mental illness equal to medical health. In fact, since then, every year the number of Americans being diagnosed with a mental illness and prescribed psychiatric drugs only increases. The current number is one in five Americans that take at least one psychiatric drug and, because the use of psychiatric drugs only increases every year, one might argue that despite the drug use, nobody is getting better.

There no longer is any “stigma” associated with mental health, which is evident in how these starlets now find it perfectly normal and acceptable make jokes about how they are chemically altering their brains in order to function on a daily basis. You know, “just two depressed girls thriving…”  One also must wonder if these ladies are being paid by the pharmaceutical industry to push its drugs?

So, for the benefit of the starlets who have come out of the psychiatric drug closet and think that it’s just wonderful to so enthusiastically share their life-is-beautiful-drug experience, let’s address what Hollywood isn’t talking about.

There is no science to any mental disorder that is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).  There is no known abnormality in the brain that is any mental disorder. So, the drugs are not “treating” any abnormality. Further, there is no test known to man that can measure the chemicals in anyone’s brain and, even if it was possible, who decides what is a normal chemical level?

Additionally, the drug companies that produce these mind-altering drugs admit that they have no idea how the drugs “work” in the brain as “treatment” for depression, anxiety, bipolar or any alleged psychiatric disorder. For example, let’s review Jennifer Lawrence’s drug Zurzuvae, which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised that the “mechanism of action of zuranolone in the treatment of PPD is not fully understood, but it is thought to be related to…..” Blah, blah, blah.

The FDA nor the pharmaceutical company have any idea how the drug “works” in the brain for PPD. If either of these entities understood how the drug “worked,” that information would be made public in specific detail. It is also of interest that Zurzuvae is classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as Schedule IV controlled substances and carries serious risks of misuse, abuse and dependency and can cause significant Central Nervous System depressant effects.

Before getting into the possible side effects of Zurzuvae, it’s important to acknowledge that there have been no pediatric clinical trials of this drug so there is no safety information provided for breastfeeding. It is noted that the drug does pass into the breast milk so the child also will be receiving some level of the drug.

It should also be explained that this drug carries the following possible side effects: dizziness, somnolence, fatigue, memory impairment, tremors, anxiety, confused state and driving impairment. And let’s not forget, like all antidepressants, Zurzuvae carries the black box warning for the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Still funny? Meh…not so much, huh? This is serious business and one that Hollywood’s starlets should learn about before making jokes and quips about how wonderful being drugged is. This writer hasn’t a clue who these “celebrities” are, but many young people do know their work and with that celebrity status comes responsibilities.

There is nothing funny about the dangers associated with psychiatric drugs and it’s time for Hollywood to get into the right character and acknowledge the reality of the psychiatric drug crisis. Afterall, can it just be a coincidence that with the increased use of antidepressants among teens that the rate of suicide has increased? It’s time for these “celebrities” to get their act together. Young, impressionable, lives are on the line.

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AbleChild is a 501(3) C nonprofit organization that has recently co-written landmark legislation in Tennessee, setting a national precedent for transparency and accountability in the intersection of mental health, pharmaceutical practices, and public safety.

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