Psychiatric Medication: A Relationship That’s Hard to Leave

There’s one message I wish every young person could hear before ever starting a psychiatric medication:
This is not a small decision. It’s a relationship. And it can be a very hard one to leave.

Most people think taking a pill is simple—like taking vitamins or Tylenol. But psychiatric medications don’t work like that. Once they enter your life, the relationship becomes personal, emotional, and deeply tied to how you feel day to day.

The Honeymoon Phase

When you first start a medication, it can feel exciting. You might feel a bit better. You might even think, This is exactly what I needed.
That early relief can feel like falling for someone new—someone who seems to understand you, calm you, fix things.

But every honeymoon ends.

And eventually, the bad parts of the medication you never saw at the start begin to show up.

When the Relationship Turns

Like a partner who slowly becomes controlling, a medication can start affecting your life in ways you didn’t expect:

• It won’t let you travel or change schedules without bringing it along.
  
  

• It takes up mental space you didn’t plan for.
  
  

• It pushes out room for other things in your life.
  
  

• If you miss a dose, you pay for it—physically or emotionally.

• And then the red flags appear: changes in how you feel, think, sleep, or connect with people—shifts you didn’t notice at first but now can’t ignore.
  
  

• Even when the relationship stops helping you, it can be unbelievably hard to leave.
  
  

You may tell yourself, Why do I feel so awful without it? Maybe I actually need this.
But that feeling isn’t “proof you’re broken.”
It’s the biology of withdrawal, not your identity.

What’s Actually Happening in Your Brain

Here’s the part most people are never told:

Your brain wants balance.
When a medication pushes your brain in one direction for a long time, your brain pushes back. Quietly. Constantly.

Over time, this can lead to:

• needing higher doses for the same effect,
  

• the medication “stopping working,”
  

• or getting sick when you try to stop too quickly.

This is why so many people feel worse trying to come off the medication than they did before they ever started it.
It doesn’t mean your original emotions were “proof of a disorder.”
It means your brain adapted to the drug.

And because of that adaptation, stopping often requires a slow, careful taper—a process that usually takes 1–2 years, not a few weeks.

Does Any of This Sound Familiar?

If this reminds you of a toxic or controlling relationship, that’s not an accident.
Psychiatric medications can create emotional and physical dependency, even when the original symptoms have long passed.

And yet, most people are started on these drugs in a 10–15 minute primary care appointment—without real explanation, real time, or real informed consent.

You Deserve More Than That

In a better world, the responsibility would fall on doctors to explain all of this.
But in the system we have today—rushed visits, little psychiatric training in primary care, and enormous pressure to medicate—you often have to protect yourself.

You deserve time.
You deserve full information.
You deserve the chance to think before committing to something that may reshape your life.

This Is Why UnScripted Exists

We’re here to support you before you become a lifelong psychiatric patient.
We’re here to make sure you don’t walk blindfolded into a relationship you can’t easily step out of later.

You don’t need to be scared—just informed.
And we’ll walk with you, step by step, as you figure out what’s right for you.

Dr. Marissa Witt-Doerring is a board-certified psychiatrist and co-founder of TaperClinic, specializing in psychiatric withdrawal and safe, individualized tapering.