372. Deprescribing Antidepressants

You Are Not Broken

Kelly Casperson, MD

Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Kelly interviews Dr. Mark Horowitz, a psychiatrist and author, about the long-term impacts of antidepressants, the challenges of coming off these medications, and the future of deprescribing. This conversation sheds light on why many people remain trapped on these drugs and what can be done to change this reality. Key Topics: The origins of Dr. Horowitz's involvement in deprescribing and his personal experience The widespread use of antidepressants in America and the long-term health risks How withdrawal symptoms can be mistaken for a need to stay on medication The insidious side effects of antidepressants, including weight gain, sexual dysfunction, and increased risk of fractures The lack of long-term studies and regulatory oversight on the effects of antidepressants The importance of informed consent and alternative treatment options How marketing and legal factors influence prescribing habits Strategies for safe tapering and support resources for deprescribing The evolving awareness and cultural shift regarding antidepressant risks Deprescribing book https://markhorowitz.org/ Listen to my Tedx Talk: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Why we need adult sex ed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Take my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Adult Sex Ed Master Class:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠My Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Interested in my sexual health and hormone clinic? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Waitlist is open⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about Via vaginal moisturizer from Solv Wellness, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠via4her.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get 20% off your first order. For an additional $5 off, use coupon code DRKELLY5. Clinicians can request patient materials or samples at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠hcp.solvwellness.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Thanks to our sponsor ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Midi Women's Health⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Designed by midlife experts, delivered by experienced clinicians, covered by insurance.Midi is the first virtual care clinic made exclusively for women 40+. Evidence-based treatments. Personalized midlife care.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.joinmidi.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to You Are Not Broken, the podcast that challenges everything we've been taught about midlife, hormones, and sexuality.
0:10.0	I'm Dr. Kelly Casperson, board certified jurologist, author, and a leading voice in women's sexual and hormone health.
0:15.9	Enjoy the show.
0:17.4	Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the You're Not Broken podcast. Today, it's going to be a fascinating conversation with Dr. Mark Horowitz, who wrote, literally wrote the book, Deprescribing Guidelines, Antidepressants, benzodiazepines, gabapentnoids, and Z drugs. Look at this textbook. I wrote two like layperson books. How did you do this? So it took, it ruined my life for a few years. That's how I did it. So I'm glad that someone other
0:40.2	than my mother is bought it, so it's nice to sit in your hands. It's a very big deal because
0:44.4	I think it's a conversation that I think is just starting. And SSRI and antidepressants and
0:50.5	the drugs before them have been around for decades. And I think, you know, I've been saying this for a couple of years on the podcast of, you can't
0:58.6	put 25% of American women on a drug and not have a reckoning coming. There was just an article
1:06.1	in the Wall Street Journal about this. Like, I think the reckoning, if that's the right word or not, is coming of like,
1:12.9	how did we get one in four American women on these medications? Is that the right thing to do
1:19.2	and can we get them off? So thank you so much for coming on to the podcast today.
1:23.2	My pleasure. And it's how do we get people off a drug that doesn't have an inbuilt
1:27.7	off ramp? You know, it doesn't, I sort of say it's a bit like putting cars on the road without
1:32.1	brakes because, you know, there really wasn't given thought after years on the drugs,
1:37.8	how can you stop these drugs? After a few weeks, it's very easy. That's not a big deal.
1:42.0	But now we have not just one in four women in America on these
1:46.6	drugs, but a lot of them are on it for years or decades. So there are 25 million people in America
1:53.0	who are on the drugs for years now. How did you get into this topic? I'd like to say it's because
1:59.3	I'm very intellectual and academic.
2:01.5	Innately curious? I am, but no, unfortunately, it's because I sort of fell down a manhole in the
2:08.7	street, you know, the SSRI manhole. I guess briefly, you know, I took antidepressants for many years,
2:15.0	like one in six adults in the Western world, America, Europe, Australia.
	...

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