Nov '25 • Give Advice
The Rise of Anti-Anxiety Drugs - 2000s to Today
Anxiety Medications Have Skyrocketed
Here are the most dramatic changes-
SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors)
Examples - Zoloft, Lexapro, Prozac
- Prescriptions tripled from 2000 to 2020
- Zoloft and Lexapro are now among the top 10 most prescribed drugs in the U.S.
Benzodiazepines (anti-anxiety drugs)
Examples- Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin
- Prescriptions increased ~70–90% in the 2000s
- Xanax alone peaked at over 50 million prescriptions per year
- Over-prescription led to dependence and black-market misuse
Children & Teens
- Anxiety medication use in youth is up more than 300% in two decades
- One of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical categories. Follow the money.
Why This Happened
Expanded Diagnostic Criteria
More people qualified for anxiety diagnoses leading to more prescriptions.
Pharma Marketing Explosion
- 1997-2007 - Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising surged. Big Pharma lobbied (paid) Gov't to allow them to advertise on TV. Large source of revenue for TV stations.
- TV commercials normalized “Ask your doctor about _____”
Pharma didn’t invent anxiety. But they heavily expanded their market for anxiety.
Short-Appointment Medicine
Doctors are forced to solve problems fast therefore prescriptions became the quick fix.
Anxiety drugs became a substitute for lifestyle coaching. Doctors have no time for this. $$$
Social & Economic Stressors
Post-9/11, recession, high-tech world → chronic underlying fear.
Insurance Coverage Gaps
Therapy and lifestyle counseling rarely covered.
Pills are cheap, fast and billable. Follow the money
Here's the Problem though.
Short-term relief. But…
- Doesn’t fix underlying nervous system dysregulation
- Can reduce emotional processing
- Side effects include weight gain, cravings, and hormonal changes
- Withdrawal can worsen anxiety leading to a dependence cycle
Medication can be helpful, but it cannot replace lifestyle interventions.
How This Connects to Emotional Eating + Weight Loss
Many anxiety medications-
- Increase appetite (especially sugar cravings)
- Lower metabolism slightly
- Disrupt sleep and hormones
- Reduce motivation and energy output
You may may feel-
“I’m doing everything right… why isn’t the weight coming off?”
Medication might be helping the mood temporarily but holding back fat loss.
Our bodies don't have a "medication/drug deficiency" so what's the solution?
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The Rise of Anti-Anxiety Drugs - 2000s to Today
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