Phillip Reese
After a grueling 12 months of chemotherapy, surgical procedure, and radiation to deal with breast most cancers, Sadia Zapp was anxious — not the manageable hum that had lengthy been a part of her life, however one thing deeper, extra distracting.
“Every little ache, like my knee hurts,” she stated, made her fear that “this is the end of the road for me.”
So Zapp, a 40-year-old communications director in New York, turned considered one of tens of millions of Americans to start out taking an anxiousness remedy lately. For her, it was the serotonin-boosting drug Lexapro.
“I love it. It’s been great,” she stated. “It’s really helped me manage.”
The proportion of American adults who took anxiousness medicines jumped from 11.7% in 2019 to 14.3% in 2024, with a lot of the enhance occurring in the course of the covid pandemic, in response to survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s 8 million extra individuals, bringing the full to roughly 38 million, with sharp will increase amongst younger adults, individuals with a school diploma, and adults who establish as LGBTQ+.
Even as psychiatric medicines achieve public acceptance and turn into simpler to entry by means of telehealth appointments, the rise of a category of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, often known as SSRIs, has triggered a backlash from supporters of the “Make America Healthy Again” motion who argue they’re dangerous. Doctors and researchers say medicines akin to Prozac, Zoloft, and Lexapro are front-line remedies for a lot of anxiousness problems, together with generalized anxiousness dysfunction and panic dysfunction, and are being misrepresented as addictive and broadly dangerous although they’ve been proved secure for prolonged use.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has decried broadening SSRI use. During his Jan. 29 affirmation listening to, he stated he is aware of individuals, together with members of the family, who had a tougher time quitting SSRIs than individuals have quitting heroin. More lately, he said his agency is studying a potential hyperlink between using SSRIs and different psychiatric medicines and violent habits like faculty shootings.
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary has also suggested that SSRI use amongst pregnant girls may result in poor beginning outcomes.
SSRIs’ widespread unwanted side effects embrace upset stomach, brain fog, and fatigue. Some SSRIs additionally can reduce libido and trigger different sexual unwanted side effects.
For many individuals, nonetheless, the unwanted side effects are gentle and tolerable and the advantages of treating continual anxiousness are price it, stated Patrick Kelly, president of the Southern California Psychiatric Society. “The statements about SSRIs were just not grounded in any sort of evidence or fact,” Kelly stated of Kennedy’s feedback.
A recent comprehensive study confirmed that over half of individuals with generalized anxiousness dysfunction taking an SSRI noticed their anxiousness signs diminished by at the least 50%. Side results prompted about 1 in 12 to cease taking an SSRI.
“When it’s being done right and when you’re also using appropriate therapy techniques, SSRIs can be really, really helpful,” stated Emily Wood, a psychiatrist who practices in Los Angeles.
MAHA Blames Anxiety on Poor Diet, Lack of Exercise
Supporters of MAHA have partly blamed poor dietary selections and the rise of a sedentary life-style for the rise of a variety of well being issues, together with anxiousness, melancholy, and different psychological well being problems. As a treatment, they’ve known as for measures akin to decreasing consumption of ultraprocessed meals, which studies in recent years have connected to melancholy and anxiousness, and reducing again on display screen time in favor of train.
Psychiatrists usually encourage a healthy diet and train as an adjunctive therapy for anxiety and depression. Wood stated those that can handle anxiousness with out remedy also needs to think about speak remedy. The proportion of American adults utilizing psychological well being counseling boomed from 2019 to 2024 as teletherapy grew in recognition, federal knowledge reveals. “Anxiety disorders are amongst our psychiatric disorders that really respond well to cognitive behavioral therapy,” she stated.
But remedy can assist.
Studies present the dangers of taking SSRIs throughout being pregnant are low for mother and child. By distinction, “depression increases your risk for every complication for a mother and a baby,” Wood stated, including that current statements by authorities officers about SSRI use throughout being pregnant are “potentially leading to real harm for these women.”
Some individuals who cease taking antidepressant remedy will experience nausea, insomnia, or other symptoms, particularly in the event that they give up all of the sudden. But “the concept of addiction simply does not apply to these chemicals,” Kelly stated, a press release backed up by studies.
Addiction, although, is a chance with benzodiazepines akin to Xanax which are usually a second line of remedy for anxiousness. These managed substances can even increase the risk of opioid overdose in sufferers taking each varieties of medicine. During congressional hearings final 12 months, Kennedy additionally decried benzodiazepine overuse as an issue.
While benzodiazepines are efficient for short-term use, they require monitoring and care, Wood stated.
“Those are really great meds for acute anxiety and not great as long-term anxiety medications, because they are habit-forming over time,” Wood stated. “If you’re taking them on a daily basis, you’ll need more and more to get the same effect, and then you have to come down from them in a tapered way.”
And an increasing number of people are additionally often taking beta-blockers akin to propranolol for anxiousness. Some individuals use beta-blockers to forestall a racing coronary heart earlier than a public speech or different large moments, although they aren’t FDA-approved for treating anxiousness and are prescribed “off-label.”
Beta-blockers can cause dizziness and fatigue, however they’re “nonaddictive, really helpful for bringing down the autonomic nervous system, going from fight or flight to something more neutral, and really safe,” Wood stated.
Social Shifts Drive Increased Use of Anxiety Meds
Various leading theories may clarify why so many extra individuals are taking anxiousness remedy, including elevated social media use, extra isolation, and heightened financial uncertainty, physicians and researchers say.
Plus, the medicines are comparatively simple to get. Many individuals acquire SSRI and benzodiazepine prescriptions from their major care doctor. Others acquire the medicines after a brief teletherapy appointment.
Many social media influencers talk about their mental health struggles, easing some stigma amongst younger individuals and inspiring them to get assist. About a 3rd of teenagers in a recent study stated they get psychological well being data by way of social media.
Still, elevated entry to anxiousness remedy is usually a drawback when mixed with a development of self-diagnosis based mostly on social media tendencies. A Google seek for “buy Xanax online” results in sponsored guarantees of same-day remedy, although fine-print disclaimers make clear {that a} prescription will not be assured.
“I think increased access is good, but that’s not the same thing as, you know, ordering Xanax online,” Kelly stated.
Young adults are largely driving a rise in anxiousness remedy use. The proportion of Americans ages 18 to 34 taking anxiousness remedy rose from 8.8% in 2019 — the primary 12 months such survey knowledge turned accessible — to 14.6% in 2024. By distinction, the speed didn’t change a lot amongst adults 65 and older, CDC knowledge reveals.
The pandemic and covid lockdowns drastically elevated stress amongst many American adults, particularly young adults.
And knowledge reveals extra girls than males take anxiousness remedy. Jason Schnittker, a division chair and professor of sociology on the University of Pennsylvania, stated that’s as a result of they’re extra prone to want them. They are additionally likelier than males to report after they really feel anxious, and medical doctors are “inclined or see anxiety more readily in their female patients than their male patients,” Schnittker added.
Broader tendencies is also at work. Schnittker stated research have proven anxiousness rising extra prevalent amongst ensuing generations for a lot of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Schnittker, creator of Unnerved: Anxiety, Social Change, and the Transformation of Modern Mental Health, stated rising revenue inequality could possibly be partly guilty, with individuals feeling stress over enhancing their financial standing. Social and spiritual actions have been changed by extra isolation. And individuals have turn into extra suspicious of others, creating a way of unease round strangers.
For Zapp, the most cancers survivor, it took a number of months on Lexapro earlier than she began seeing clear outcomes. When she did, she stated, it felt like her thoughts was much less noisy, making it simpler to focus. She additionally underwent speak remedy, however now her continual anxiousness is stabilized on remedy alone.
“It definitely helped me get back to my day-to-day in a way that was productive and not just riddled with my anxieties throughout the day,” she stated.
KFF Health News’ Holly Hacker, Maia Rosenfeld, and Lydia Zuraw contributed to this report.