It’s always frustrating to see the implication that people just need to exercise to solve their mental health struggles. It might not be your intention, but it's a take I see a lot online from influencers.

I say this as someone who is extremely fit. I've worked out religiously since high school. While exercise is integral to me feeling somewhat normal and provides a short-term boost, that is just not how it works for everyone. Some of us have 'broken brains' that cardio can't fix.

Exercise manages my baseline, but sertraline is what helped me finally bridge the gap. It allowed me to regulate my emotions and anxiety in a way that no amount of exercise ever did. And the introspection from being on it helped me make lifelong changes.

To be honest, fearmongering from folks online is what stopped me from taking it sooner, but I wish I had. It was fairly life-changing.

I think the reality is likely more nuanced than 'all good' or 'all bad.' While the side effects you linked are real risks that should be taken seriously, claiming these drugs are 'by no means safe,' cause 'mostly permanent' damage, or lack evidence is a pretty extreme generalization that doesn't align with the experience of millions of patients.

Speaking for myself, I took sertraline for years and it did wonders for my mental health. It didn't ruin my life or numb me, it gave me the ability to regulate my emotions when I previously struggled immensely with anger and crippling anxiety.

It’s possible for these drugs to be handed out too easily in some contexts and simultaneously be life-saving, effective treatments for those who genuinely need them. Suggesting they violate 'do no harm' ignores the massive harm caused by leaving severe mental health struggles untreated.

Yes, that image is so funny, because it really is the difference between me being able to make a meal for myself vs needing something immediate.

It also helped do wonders for my anxiety, which I previously treated with sertaline.

I'm not the hyperactive sort of individual who has ADHD so I didn't get diagnosed until late in life, around a year or so ago, I'm just the "Inattentive" type.

But finally I can take my meds, and do things that other people do without feeling like it's mental torture. And I can also remember to do important things, like my taxes, on time!

It's so weird comparing my days on it to off it, when I happen to run out. I start getting a backlog of little things that my brain decided it couldn't take one minute to knock out.

I tried to get Kickstarter to take down an obvious scam a while back. Best I could do was post on Reddit to warn folks though.

Checked on it recently, so many comments of folks asking for shipping details / anything. Hundreds of thousands of dollars just scammed from folks. And they're still raising / stringing folks along.

It's wild.

I love that you're thinking this is what USA insurance companies are denying, not simple diagnostics / medications that save lives.