article_snippet: we together: comfort foods, alcohol, energy drinks, and an expanding array of antidepressants, anti-anxiety meds, painkillers and amphetamines.
article_snippet: This over-medication has led to record numbers of opiate overdoses and also to a growing number of women taking antidepressants -- one out of four and counting, according to a report issued by the pharmacy benefit manager, Medco.
article_snippet: The overuse of psychiatric medication is called cosmetic psychopharmacology, and it's like cosmetic surgery: as more women get breast implants, the rest of us feel flat chested.
article_snippet: Certain antidepressants called SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) create artificially stable and elevated levels of serotonin, the brain chemical that helps regulate mood, which can dampen empathy and emotional reactivity, while higher doses can engender apathy.
article_snippet: Steady doses of antidepressant advertising aimed at women advance the question from "Should I take an antidepressant?
article_snippet: SSRIs dampen sexual desire and response, making it difficult to climax and interfering with the evaluation of potential romantic partners.
article_snippet: SSRIs also make it hard to cry, an important signal to our and those around our that something is very wrong.
highlights_snippet: Julie Holland: American women taking too many anti-depressants, blunting American women valuable emotional reactivity, creating new normal .
  
highlights_snippet: Julie Holland says anti-depressants dampen moodiness, but anti-depressants's healthy, useful for women to be moody.