May Cause Side Effects

An unforgettable memoir about the turmoil of antidepressant withdrawal and the work it takes to unravel the stories we tell ourselves to rationalize our suffering.Brooke Siem was among the first generation of minors to be prescribed antidepressants. Initially diagnosed and treated in the wake of her fathers sudden death, this psychiatric intervention sent a message that something was pathologically wrong with her and that the only fix was medication. As a teenager, she stepped into the hazy world of antidepressants just at the time when she was forming the foundation of her identity. For the following fifteen years, every situation she faced was seen through the lens of brokenness.A decade and a half later, still on the same cocktail of drugs, Brooke found herself hanging halfway out her Manhattan high-rise window, calculating the time it would take to hit the ground. As she looked for breaks in the pedestrian traffic patterns, a thought dawned on her: Ive spent half my lifeand my entire adult lifeon antidepressants. Who might I be without them?Unfurled against a global backdrop,May Cause Side Effectsis the gripping story of what happened when, after fifteen years and 32,760 pills, Brooke was faced with a profound choice that plungedher into a year of excruciating antidepressant withdrawal and forced her to rebuild her entire life.An illuminating memoir for those who take, prescribe, or are considering psychiatric drugs,May Cause Side Effectsis an honest reminder that the road to true happiness is not mapped on a prescription pad. Instead, Brookes story reveals the messy reality of how healing begins at the bottomless depth of our suffering, in the deep self-work that pushes us to the edges of who we are.