Too Many Women Are On Crazy Pills

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went back to grad school later in life. Thus, I was many years older, decades even, than my collegiate, intellectual cohorts. I’ll never forget when a young woman in class, who was no older than 25, made a rather cavalier comment about taking anti-depressant SSRI pills. I was stunned at how natural this admission seemed to her. I suppose it was my look of surprise that prompted her to respond: “What? Isn’t everyone on SSRIs?”

✪ The Girls Are Not Alright

I have since come to discover it’s true; many people, particularly young adult women, are all on some sort of anti-depressive medication. When I was their age, illicit drugs (such as alcohol and marijuana) were more the accepted norm. Yet they still weren’t considered completely “normal” because they were still illegal. We had to sneak around to do it. We couldn’t just walk into class with a joint or crack open a Natty Light in the middle of a chemistry lecture.

However, today kids do drugs with a doctor’s prescription; and often, parental blessing. Maybe that’s because adults who medicate themselves for their depression, anxiety, and a host of other mood disorders are in no way bashful or self conscious about their reliance on anti-depressant medications. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal entitled “Girl, Take Your Crazy Pills!” pointed out, SSRIs are the new Birkin bag; a social status symbol and source of pride. Or as the Journal described them, a “hot lifestyle accessory.”

✪ The Scourge Of Social Media

A variety of cultural shifts have led to women’s declining mental health status in general, including a high prevalence of social media use, particularly among younger girls. As Jonathan Haidt argues in his book The Anxious Generation, the steep increase in depression and anxiety in young girls, (ages 8-22), which began some time between 2008 and 2010 corresponds with the mainstream advent of the smartphone and social media. Increased self-harm episodes, emergency room visits, and suicide rates also spiked around this same time in various countries, demonstrating this is not only a problem unique to the United States.

Social media has spread the lies of feminism along with a new age culture of “self-help,” neither of which seems to have improved women’s mental stability. On Instagram, a 33-year-old Canadian influencer triumphantly celebrates what she calls “decentering” men; proclaiming she feels emotionally and physically “safe” from men. To her, fulfillment equals excessive matcha tea consumption, sound baths, selling beauty products, and recording videos of herself every day. Her absolute independence is her crowning achievement. She calls marriage a “bad deal for women” despite research that consistently proves marriage, children & family all increase personal happiness and overall life satisfaction in women. Unmarried women have one and a half to two times higher odds of experiencing mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. This increasing social media influence among young women will only lead to higher rates of isolation and loneliness.

Women tend to internalize feelings more than their male counterparts. Directing women to consistently focus on how they feel can lead to incessant rumination and a surefire way to increase misery. There’s a reason so many religions and spiritual philosophies emphasize altruism and personal sacrifice as paths to more fulfilling lives. Placing the needs of others before oneself is rewarding and offers meaning, particularly in moments of self-criticism and isolation. Shifting focus from one’s self towards concern for others is often a panacea for depression. However, the cultural trends in social media encourages the exact opposite; and girls are more likely to suffer later because of it, while an entire industry profits from it.

✪ Women Weep As Telehealth Profits

Unfortunately, the ease of self-diagnosis, combined with increased, widespread accessibility to SSRIs, has led a large number of young women to pursue medical intervention for their mental issues. According to recent CDC National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data, approximately one in four adult women in the United States report having taken at least one psychiatric medication (antidepressants, anxiolytics/sedatives, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, or ADHD drugs) during the past year.

Approximately 17 percent of college students (ages 18–25) use psychiatric meds daily; mirroring wider population trends. The actual percentage of female college students taking these meds is likely much higher. the bottom line: adjusting for trends over the past few years roughly 30-35 million American women are currently taking at least one type of psychiatric medication with the actual number likely closer to 35 million because overall mental-health treatment (including medication) has risen consistently every year since the pandemic (23.9 percent of all adults in 2023).

Telehealth companies like Hers (along with its companion site for men called Hims) make it all too easy. I decided to investigate and see just how easy. After a few initial questions about how often I think I feel depressed or anxious, the Hers online bot made me feel included and assured me, “Don’t worry — thousands of other women feel just like you!” Thus securing my official status in the depressed woman club. I can still remember the day when I was determined not to be in that club. After a few more questions, I was just one to two days away from a scheduled appointment with an online doctor to receive my meds by mail.

Hers has experienced explosive growth, driven by the Covid-19 telehealth boom, expansion into high-demand areas like weight loss and menopause care, and aggressive marketing (e.g., a 2025 Super Bowl ad that was followed by a 650 percent spike in traffic to the Hers website). Projections indicate the popular telehealth company is on track to earn more than $1 billion in sales revenue by 2026. A signal which confirms sustained user adoption.

The prevalence of technology and social media influence has created what often feels like an upside-down world for girls and women where health conditions such as obesity, were rightfully shamed instead of being celebrated; and what was typically discouraged, like being on daily medications, is now sold as a “new normal.” This trend is expanding while new, unrealistic standards of beauty are simultaneously being promoted via the influence of women like the Kardashians and the use of GLP-1 medications, which Hers also promotes and sells.

It’s a dystopian form of mass marketed vanity where extreme and unrealistic standards are amplified and reality is distorted. It’s discordant with the truth of human nature. It appears social media is antagonistic towards confident, discerning, and mature young women entering healthy relationships and, potentially, marriage. 

In this inverted landscape where fleeting digital validation and short term endorphin gratification supplants enduring human bonds; where pharmaceutical crutches masquerade as solutions, young women are paying a very steep price. An entire generation of women has become lost amidst engineered anxiety, chasing hollow independence while forsaking the proven anchors of marriage, family, and selfless purpose. Until society rejects the unreasonable illusions of profiteering social media and telehealth empires, the epidemic of medicated misery will only grow, leaving countless lives diminished in the pursuit of a false and counterfeit cure.✪