 Hey guys, welcome back to my YouTube channel. This is Daniel Rossell here. I'm doing another video blog On this beautiful April day here in Jerusalem. It's a magnificent sunny day Firstly because this is completely off topic for my recent YouTube videos, which are about video stuff and All manner of other topics. I should probably introduce myself My name is Daniel Rossell Daniel Rossell. I live here in Jerusalem in Israel. I'm originally from Ireland And I'm doing a video today about something that I really care about and I guess it's a question leading on to a thought and that question is why don't more men especially young men share openly about taking SSRI medication commonly known as antidepressants now I'm making this video because I have shared before on this YouTube channel a couple of videos Regarding my experience taking SSRIs Last year I went on an SSRI called Zoloft if you're watching this you probably know what Zoloft is and I did one video just to say I had a pretty easy time Getting on and coming off that medication. I did not have a hard time and I feel like the ranks of people Who had just come out and say something as simple as you know what I took this SSRI and it was fine They are outnumbered like 50 to 100 times to one by people who say it was the absolute worst thing ever and It was horrific and I've got lasting side effects So I wanted to just put that out firstly to kind of try to counterbalance a bit I'm putting out this video for a different reason and that is because I think that there is a definite dearth of Males Men guys whatever you want to call us Who talk about it now I take an SSRI I take a drug called Lexa Pro and I did mention that in one I can't remember what video, but I mentioned it because I Think it is really important that Men talk about this Normalize being on these medications. I printed out for today's video a couple of statistics. I came prepared This is from the National Center for Health Statistics, which is Acronomized is that a word? It's acronym is the NCHS. It's a US Organization American organization and they say that during 2015 to 2018. These are the stats now their US statistics Probably can be extrapolated. I would guess to many developed countries during 2015 to 2018 13.2% of adults aged 18 and over used antidepressants in the past 30 days So that's the cross-gender cross-age group statistic 13% of the population However, use was higher among women at 17.7% than men at 8.4% Statistics to the percentage of antidepressant used increased with age So as people get older they tend to be more amenable to using antidepressants from 7.9% among adults aged 18 to 39 to 14.4% for those of the 40 to 59 age group and then when you get to the over 60s, it's 19% now there was also statistics here regarding male use so I've already given one of those 8.4% Across across age groups. So that works out is one in 12 and 12.8% when we get to the over 60 I said for over 60 the cross-gender Percentage was 19% so for men is 12.8% so we see it We see a pattern that across different age groups were seeing more women than men using them But nevertheless, so here's what I want you to visualize if you're thinking how weird is it to take an SSRI? Because and this is this is why I'm making this video when I was thinking about taking an SSRI for Depression and anxiety now I had I've talked about my journey before and it was kind of a weird journey I was initially I came to a psychiatrist I'll get I'll try to give a woman at summary For many years. I was living on coffee literally living on coffee as if it was a IV drip in my veins and And to a much lesser extent, but nevertheless to an extent Was using alcohol to counterbalance the coffee but really it was coffee that was like my daily thing and When I had my gallbladder surgery of two years ago, I suffered enormously after the surgery from a lot of digestive problems and It was kind of the time when my self medication system broke down. I couldn't get off coffee I mean I could but then I was like I just couldn't work So I went to a psychiatrist and I said okay I've been living like this for 10 years and it's about time that I sort of figured this out My hunch was that I had ADHD I read a really compelling book called driven to distraction and it seemed to match my life story so perfectly that I said that's it This is it. I have ADHD. That's why I'm addicted to coffee. It's a stimulant and I just need a better stimulant And I'll be set and I'll everything will be okay The connection by the way is the coffee was you know, if you have digestive problems You don't want to be throwing boatloads of coffee into your system every day So I did that for a while and had a horrible experience really with ADHD meds felt Just more stressed and Basically everything I was trying to fix was just made worse and finally The the the clue I was gonna say the red herring But it's the opposite whatever the opposite of red herring is the the the clue that eventually led to a correct diagnosis Was that I got more and more depressed with these these stimulant medications and I Had firstly an ADHD doctor not a psychiatrist just a guy who did ADHD and he said look I'm not gonna continue giving you stimulants until you see a psychiatrist And you we need to treat the mood disorder and that's something by the way that's pretty standard It's well known among doctors and psychiatrists that if you give it a pressed patient Stimulants it can be very very dangerous because they can go from being maybe passively suicidal Too actively suicidal, so they're really careful. So it was very prudent doctor I had but basically he said you're gonna have to see a psychiatrist I'm not gonna see you if you don't see a psychiatrist that okay fine, so I'm gonna see a psychiatrist and He added an SSRI He said okay, yeah, we can keep going with the ADHD meds, but we're gonna have to put you on an SSRI So I started an SSRI and at this point. I was just like Honestly, I'm so far invested in this process like I've seen multiple doctors And I'm just like at this point fine But it took me a really long time to get to that point literally it was my biggest fear in the world taking one of these Drugs my biggest fear and the reason I'm sitting down here today to record this video is To try maybe mitigate that fear for some person because if I knew of one friend or two friends or three friends Male friends who were transparent about having taken SSRIs it would have made this so much easier And they didn't know a single person. I was not gonna put out a post on Facebook saying hey guys You know, I've been prescribed laxapro. I'm really scared anyone take this medication back when anxiety Was such a massive part of my daily life. That would have been way way beyond the paleo what he would consider doing I did end up hearing of people who took these drugs through the grapevine But they were all girls, you know, they'd mention. Oh I'm taking lexapro and I said oh lexapro. I know that that's a drug my doctors prescribed for me And I'm too scared to take but it was always women now there is that's why I brought these statistics because When you look at these statistics that makes logical sense, right? There's more women taking these of men, but there are still men take them That's why I'm sitting here 8.4% is one in 12 across age groups and over 60 what did I say one in a 12.8 percent? So the way I would visualize this is picture of bar or I don't know a cowboy saloon or whatever masculine environment you want to picture or a rugby club and there's a team of Soccer let's say 11 people Plus the referee is 12. All right This is not exactly going to plan or script But picture about that many men and whatever setting that you think of as your typical male environment And one of those people during their lifetime will take a medication like this an SSRI and if you Picture the same group of men, but picture them elderly now They're over 60 and they're drawing down a pension and whatever then it goes down to one in eight So as people get older they become more amenable or become more depressed I'm not sure if the research says what the case may be but That is how it goes So I just want to come back quickly to my mental health journey And I was taking these ADHD meds had to be put on the antidepressant And I had this lipo moment where I realized that the what I came into a site to firstly to a doctor to try to fix Which was okay. I can't do anything without coffee. I'm just like dragging I'm not motivated and I was very functional. I was holding down jobs, but I just knew I wasn't fulfilling my potential and It was when I finally got on an SSRI that I said, oh, that's what I was missing. I didn't need to stimulate myself I needed to just quell the anxiety and when the anxiety settles My brain cleared and I could concentrate and I could think and I could be social and That's the course. I've gone on I've only taken one executive decision in my time under psychiatric care and that was to tell my psychiatrist We're done with ADHD meds and SSRI has been the best thing for me and that's what I've been on for the last few months and The last time I didn't appreciate how much you told me this time this time. I think I'm much more cognizant. I can really feel that I'm Performing better at work performing better making more friends I'm having the Bravery to put this out on YouTube globally overall my life is just better um so A tipping point for me when I went back to my doctor was watching a video on youtube and that's why that's This is the second reason i'm creating this video When I was at this point of being wind up on ADHD meds and thinking you know what this really isn't What I need I can tell this is maybe helping a bit, but this isn't the medication for me At some point I got on youtube and I hadn't been on youtube looking for mental health videos in a long time Whatever I punched into youtube whatever keywords I punched in I got to this video by this lady called lauren elizabeth lauren elizabeth lauren is a tongue twister lauren elizabeth and she Is like this um The female influencer, you know, she's kind of as a female follower ship And she was just like not the type of person I would have watched Not to be discriminatory, but you know she talks about fashion stuff To other girls she's very much a you know a ladies influencer And I would just never have come across this youtube channel But I watched I was two minutes into a video and I said ha this is really something because She just seemed like such a normal relatable person And she was talking about why she takes anxiety medication every day And whatever it was I'd watched a lot of videos about people's experience on ssri and ssri with stroll And you know psychiatrists and pop psychiatrists But for some reason it was this person that Seemed so relatable and so normal to me that I said you know what if if she can be On these drugs and be honest about being on these drugs I can be on these drugs too And that's when I made an appointment with my psychiatrist. I literally emailed him after this video and I said Okay, some this is not working for me I want to see you as soon as I can when do you have a time slot And that was literally a turning point in my journey so far Like exaggerating not I watched this video And I was like, okay. I have to do something So I sent a whatsapp to this guy because that's how everything works in israel through whatsapp so I can imagine that there is a social stigma to mental health treatment and that it's difficult for people to be open with Their friends about it, but then I got this really got me thinking I was like well if this person lauren elizabeth didn't say you know what I'm going to record a video About taking anxiety medication. I would not have seen that video I would not have been convinced to reach out to my doctor. I would not have made that change in my direction So I know there's a lot of pushback about about this a lot of older people who say You know the baby boomer generation Maybe you say oh you should keep these things to yourself And that's your private business for you and your doctor and don't talk about it on the internet And I've definitely got that from people But that's why I'm here recording because if I can do for one person What this person did for me it was worth sitting here for 20 minutes while I enjoy the sunshine sunshine So I wasn't really much hassle to me um I have one more thing To say about this, but my mind is currently blanking out. I did a good enough job at least try to make a script for this video um Oh, yeah, how transparent I am about it. So that's definitely something I'm worrying I'm have worried about by me putting something like this on youtube Every potential Um future employer is going to see this video potentially see this video. So that's a risk I take and I'm cognizant of taking that risk What do I feel about it? I feel like we need to move into a world where it's totally normalized to take mental health medication and I guess Call me irresponsible But if a potential client or a potential employer sees this video and says we don't want to hire this guy He had depression or anxiety and he took an SSR and he's too risky. That's fine. I'll just find someone who's okay with it That's that's my rationale. How honest am I about it? I don't go meeting people and say hi. I'm Daniel I'm taking 20 milligrams of eschatal or pram every day. Nice to meet you I don't think there's any reason for that kind of upfront. That would just be weird So what are you doing instead is if it's appropriate or if it's worth mentioning. I don't hide it. So in other words I'd say the moment's been like this. Um, one thing I've been Resolving with this thing is this whole coffee alcohol dance. I talked about So I'm in a much better place now. I drink far less coffee and I drink alcohol Probably as much as I did before I wasn't really a crazy lot of consumption But I've known for years that I can't overdo alcoholic and I've won or two drinks and that's about it Um And now when I was friends, you know, sometimes people will say hey, let's go to another bar another bar And I have to say look That sounds great really does but I have anxiety and I can drink a little bit on this medication But if I have any more than that, it's gonna I can't do it. It's gonna I know the risk of panic attacks or making depression worse is just too great. So Sorry Have a great time And stuff like that that's kind of about it really or someone mentions. Oh, I'm take lexapro. I say, oh amazing I take lexapro too great to meet someone else who's open about it So that's kind of how open I am about it. I think I'd like to suggest that's kind of normal amount I don't go past that But equally I don't see any reason not to be at that level. I don't see a reason to hide it Because I think that if everyone hit it, no, no, no one in eight people. What was it? What was the stat? 12 100 percent and overall it's um Overall 17.7 like, you know one in One in five elder Older people over 60s. That's a crazy amount are taking essence or are taking antidepressant you go to uh The the queue in your starbucks and you see five people in queue one of them are taking it. So If if no one says they take it we perpetuate this Culture where people who really need these medications who are maybe at risk of suicide or risk of just Really not living a fulfilled life Are thinking I'm the only one on the planet with Panic attacks or depression who needs to take this medication. I'm such a freak That my doctor has had to prescribe this and I think that all stems from a culture of silence about it And that's why I'm doing this video. So hope that was of use um to somebody Um and those are my thoughts why I think more men in particular because I think women are Outdoing men. It's not coincidental that the one person I found Or connected with was a woman a young lady. There's more women talking about this the men on uh youtube But there are some guys and I think that's brilliant women do a great job at setting up women support groups Men need to do a good job as well, especially young men men in the under 40 category Uh, generally, I don't think there's really I'm conflicted. Is there a point in segmenting along the lines of gender and age? but I think there's such a lack of understanding that at this point we can beggars can't be choosers We should set up support groups for you know, men under 50 was depression men over 50 was depression women under 50 women over 50 set them all up And if it really matters to someone that they're in a male only environment or a women only environment or a Young person only environment or an older person only environment let them have that option for uh, finding that channel support A network of peers i'm talking about that is comfortable for them. So yeah, that's why i'm doing this And again, the message i'm saying is I would like personally I kind of orchestrate the change myself, but I can do be the change I want to see in the world Um, more young men should if they're taking us this or I I don't think anyone needs to keep it as a burning secret Don't probably run into your HR department and tell them that um Because we probably know advantage to do that and potentially disadvantages But equally I don't think hiding it makes uh socially or even globally really makes any sense and I Hope we can move towards a more understanding and compassionate world in which everyone feels empowered To disclose whatever they're going through really regardless of depression anxiety SSRIs antipsychotics mood stabilizers whatever that mental health across the board is normalized Thank you guys for watching and if by any chance I don't you know, I'm not gonna push for subscribers anymore because my youtube channel is such a poppory of topics I just do it for fun and if you want to get more videos from me for whatever reason hit subscribe if you don't that's cool as well Thank you for watching. Have a great day