Shalini Ramachandran

They're so common that they've made a mark on American culture and become household names.

It started in the 60s and 70s with one of the earliest benzo drugs to hit the market, Valium.

After benzos, another class of drugs came on the scene, SSRIs, a type of antidepressant that affects serotonin levels in the brain.

Last year, there were 347 million antidepressant prescriptions written in the U.S.

alone, though a lot of people tend to be on multiple medications at the same time.

And Betsy says these prescriptions are easier to access than ever, as telehealth clinics like HIMS and HERS are able to prescribe them virtually these days.

In a statement, a HIMS and HERS spokesperson said, quote, We're proud that these efforts have helped people connect with qualified clinicians and get the care they need.

But Shalini, you were saying earlier that benzos are not meant for long-term use.

Betsy found that in the last couple years, more Americans are taking antidepressants than ever, especially young women.

And in this living experiment, there isn't a lot of data about long-term use.

What there is is a lot of chatter on social media.

Only, creators that Betsy and Shalini spoke to said that after extended use of antidepressants, they started experiencing downsides.

And now, there are TikTok testimonials trending with a very different tone.

A recent study found that moderate or severe withdrawal symptoms showed up in nearly two-thirds of patients who'd been on antidepressants for more than two years.

Shalini and Betsy found that just like with benzos, people can get trapped in a cycle of prescriptions with antidepressants.

Patients experience side effects, so their doctor raises their dose or switches to a new pill or layers on more meds.

And if they try to get off the drugs, they experience withdrawal symptoms.

So it sounds like there's still a lot that's not known about these drugs, how effective they are just on their own and what kind of impact they have on folks long term.

I just want to say again, many Americans have been helped by psych meds over the years.

But the more that Shalini and Betsy looked at these drugs and the hundreds of millions of prescriptions that are filled every year, the more apparent it became to them that these meds are embedded in American culture and that the U.S.