The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast · Drew Linsalata

Medication for Anxiety: Why We're Not Talking About It | Ep 320

·23 min·1 clip

Drew says any medication answer will challenge someone's beliefs and can feel like “med-shaming.”

1. The Anxious Truth episode 320 centers on Drew Linsalata’s refusal to give simple answers about medication for anxiety and mental health. 2. Drew Linsalata is the host, a New York therapist, three-time author, former panic disorder, agoraphobia, depression, and OCD sufferer, and the person making the argument. 3. The episode asks why Drew says he cannot responsibly answer medication questions from listeners, commenters, or viewers. 4. Drew says he is asked every day whether people can get better without medication, whether medication is necessary, and whether taking it is “cheating.” 5. He says some listeners want to know whether they can stop medication and still keep improving. 6. Drew says answering those questions can conflict with personal beliefs and challenge a listener’s autonomy. 7. He argues that a therapist’s first principle is that each client has autonomy and gets to decide what is right for them. 8. Drew says a podcast, YouTube channel, or social feed is a one-to-many environment that can carry an expectation of authority. 9. He says that makes it easy for people to feel invalidated if he says something that runs counter to their experience with medication. 10. Drew says the topic is complicated because it includes medical, physiological, social, family, financial, cultural, and lifestyle variables. 11. He names family pressure, Eastern healing philosophies, spiritual beliefs, and the cost of care as factors that can shape the decision. 12. He says a person’s job, children, relationships, pets, church, and community commitments can all matter because side effects may change daily functioning. 13. Drew says the listener’s history with psychiatric medications and any other medical conditions also affect the decision. 14. He says different presentations of OCD, health anxiety, and panic can change how medication questions should be considered. 15. Drew says qualifications matter and names medical doctors, pharmacology, and psychiatrists as the people trained to discuss psychiatric medications in detail. 16. He says even then, the issue changes over time, because bodies, minds, beliefs, finances, jobs, relationships, culture, morals, and risk-reward calculations all shift. 17. The episode sounds like a direct solo talk, with Drew speaking into the microphone in a forceful, repetitive, explanatory style. 18. The energy is animated and insistent, and he explicitly calls parts of the topic a “rant” before recapping his position. 19. People weighing medication decisions for anxiety recovery will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting specific prescribing advice should probably skip this one.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast