Dr. Eric Bender

I think people get scared sometimes because they see, again, back to depictions of media, terrible side effects depicted on TV, or they see people not themselves, whatever it is that they've seen.

And then there's also family and cultural values and beliefs.

Like, what does it mean to be on medication?

What does this do for my identity and how I see myself?

Am I flawed?

Am I broken?

And do I need fixing?

Is that why I'm taking this?

So there are a lot of reasons for people to come in and be excited about medication and a lot for them to be not so excited about it.

And I haven't necessarily seen an uptick in patient acceptance.

I think with younger generations, there's a lot more destigmatization of mental health that's happened over time.

Older generations still feel, when I see people in their 70s, 80s, 90s, sometimes they're kind of looking over the shoulder as they walk in the building and want to make sure that everything's okay.

I say exactly that.

We don't know exactly how this works.

The studies show that serotonin, the serotonin system is involved in mood regulation and an emotional response.

These medications somehow affect serotonin and it could be in the pathway itself.

It could be in the receptors.

It could be potentially that it increases serotonin.

We're not exactly sure that seems to have been dispelled, but some more research recently is showing this or this.

So I have those conversations.