The pendulum effect is used to describe the tendency that cultural and political issues tend to swing between extremes. This effect is also seen in healthcare. We live in a time where the pendulum has swung way too far into the favor of pharmaceuticals. There is a pharmaceutical “solution” for almost anything now and business is booming. The medical community has already recognized that over prescribing antibiotics has led to widespread antibiotic resistance and superbugs. It is also well established that overprescribing opiates created the opioid epidemic. This overprescribing is fueled by the pharmaceutical companies and their strategies are well documented in the recent Purdue Pharma legal cases.

Now thousands of people are questioning the reasons why they were prescribed an antidepressant and whether they are even effective. Research supports our patient’s observations and shows that antidepressants are not as effective as we once believed. The most common complaint from people on antidepressants is that they aren’t experiencing as much sadness but that they feel numb and disconnected from their lives. We believe that antidepressants have been vastly overprescribed and that there is an immediate need to help people come off their meds.

Unfortunately, stopping an antidepressant is often not easy. Many people experience an antidepressant withdrawal symptom which may include insomnia, sensory changes, unpleasant thoughts, anxiety, and depression. When people experience this withdrawal the natural inclination is to want to start their antidepressant again to make the unpleasant symptoms go away which reinforced a belief that they need these meds. We have created a program that helps people wean their antidepressants and reestablish their lives off of medication.