What TV Doesn’t Tell You About Anti-Depressants

By Katherine Turner

I am sitting at home watching TV: what else would I be doing during the pandemic? It’s a psychological thriller, and the heroine seems anxious; she begins pacing in her office. I feel that familiar feeling of annoyance begin to bubble in my stomach. I know what’s coming even if it hasn’t played out yet. 

She goes to a desk, opens a drawer, pulls out a bottle of tablets, opens it, swings her head back and swallows any number of tablets down with a glass of whiskey. It is clear from the exposition that these tablets are some kind of antidepressant or antianxiety drug. 

They are there as a prop to communicate the distress of the character. They may even explain some weird hallucinations that she might go through later. It doesn’t matter that this isn’t how that type of medication works. It is all in the service of storytelling.

People may ask: why be so annoyed? Well, for most people this will be the only exposure they get to this type of medication. It means that people like me, who rely on this medication to function, feel the need to hide that part of themselves because they don’t want to be perceived as unstable. It also means that people who really need this type of treatment may be reluctant to take it as they see it as belonging to a special group of ‘crazy’ people.

The truth about taking antidepressants or antianxiety medication is that it is super common and super normal – it’s almost never like how they portray it on TV or in movies. Most of the time, you’ll start on a small dose and build it up over time until you feel a difference in mood. You’ll take it under the supervision of a GP or Psychiatrist, and you should be talking to them often to review the medication.

Again, you never see this sort of follow-up on the screen. Taking medication is usually part of a wider treatment plan, which could include counselling or talking therapy. With antidepressants, you’ll take them at a set time – usually in the mornings – not just whenever you like. You should also take them with food and water, not alcohol! I mean, alcohol is just going to cancel it out. You’re taking an antidepressant with a depressant. You’ll feel the same or quite possibly worse. 

Half the time, the drugs you see on TV aren’t even prescribed anymore. The drugs on shows have well-known names, like Xanax. Xanax, a drug whose reputation over time has become synonymous with ‘the crazies’ and ‘the desperate’. In truth, this drug isn’t available on the NHS as it has a lot of side effects and isn’t considered effective. 

Nowadays, you are far more likely to get given a type of beta-blocker. New drugs are being developed all the time, and they have fewer and fewer side effects. Lastly, drugs mainly come in blister packs so you can’t just neck them like a shot unless you want to sit there and pop them out one by one, which, I know, doesn’t look anywhere near as dramatic on camera.

People have started to demand more realistic storytelling. This should be encouraged for all medical aids people use, not just antidepressants and antianxiety medication. Imagine the outcry if a show decided they wanted their hero to wear a hearing aid that made them hear the voice of the dead or something as equally as unhelpful. 

The truth is that medication for mental health can be a lifeline offering people the chance to feel stable and in control. It is not a plot point to show how unstable a character is. People have the right to see their own experiences reflected back at them, not a warped and unrealistic caricature of those experiences.