One in nine adults in the United States takes antidepressants, and women make up two-thirds of that group. Yet a meta-analysis of 151 antidepressant drug trials published in Lancet on Oct. 21 makes clear that maybe they shouldn’t be.
The analysis of 30 different drug trials and almost 60,000 individuals found that both the psychological benefits and the physiological side-effects of antidepressant drugs vary enormously. While antidepressants benefit most patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, their effects on depression are not clear. Additionally, some of the drugs may harm the heart by causing increased heart rates and blood pressure, weight gain, and higher glucose and cholesterol levels.
A great deal remains unknown. While the vast majority (88.7%) of the trials analyzed collected gender data on the subjects, the results were not analyzed for potential differences by gender. This despite the fact that repeated studies and patient surveys report that women, especially non-Hispanic white women, are more than twice as likely as men to take antidepressants. One 2023 CDC study concluded that the gender difference in taking antidepressants matters, statistically. Gender likely affects outcomes. Yet the CDC did not examine how the drugs might affect women differently from men.
I don’t see this as anything new, and I am not alone. An increasing number of nonfiction books, including memoirs, challenge the assumption that psychiatric drugs improve the lives of patients, especially women. My knowledge is gleaned both from independent research and a lifetime of trying to figure out whether my suicidal mother was crazy or broken by the brutal psychiatric treatments she received in the name of medical care. Yet many more objective observers also question whether psychiatric drugs weren’t designed to silence those who challenge accepted norms, as their Holocaust origins might suggest.
If you’d like a truly expert opinion on this, I direct you to Dr. Jessica Taylor. She publishes widely on the overmedication of trauma and the psychiatric demonization of women.
Recent Sources:
Elgaddal, Nazik, Weeks, J.D., and Mykyta, Laryssa. Characteristics of Adults Age 18 and Older Who Took Prescription Medication for Depression: United States, 2023. NCHS Data Brief No. 528, April 2025, at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db528.htm.
Older Women Use the Most Antidepressants, Survey Finds. Women’s Healthcare, Jan. 4, 2023, at npwomenshealthcare.com /older-women-use-the-most-antidepressants-survey-finds/.
Pillinger T, Arumuham A, McCutcheon RA, et al. The Effects of Antidepressants on Cardiometabolic and Other Physiological Parameters: A Systematic Review and Metwork Meta-analysis. Lancet, Oct. 21, 2025, at https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01293-0.
Taylor, Jessica. Sexy But Psycho. Constable & Robinson, 2023.
Ruminations 