Know Thyself through exposure
While watching advertisements with brief interruptions of entertainment on my television, I caught one of the thousand pharmaceutical commercials telling us to tell our doctors about a particular drug.
And this one I found particularly absurd.
Picture a woman dreamily reading outside on her gorgeous veranda when she takes a moment to look up to the warm sunlight….grateful….happy. We hear her thoughts about how she needed more from her antidepressant(s) and how thankful she is that her doctor (ha!) recommended she take another drug in parallel with her existing antidepressant(s) to help her feel less depressed.
But….
Among the cornucopia of alleged side effects, but not limited to, were: new or sudden MOOD changes, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, and the terrifying statement that when taken with ANTIDEPRESSANTS this drug may INCREASE the risk of MOOD CHANGES and SUICIDAL THOUGHTS….. huh
So a drug that is touted to help when you ‘aren’t getting enough from your antidepressants’, may make you more depressed and possibly want to end your life if taken in conjunction with the said existing antidepressants you are supposed to take this with? Huh.
Oh and the landslide of side effects is preambled with the statement that ‘weight gain’ and ‘reported sexual side effects were not common’ but at the end there is a conflicting statement that ‘high cholesterol and weight gain may occur’. Therefore leading with ‘weight gain is not common’ and concluding with ‘weight gain may occur’ seems like contradictory bookends….even for a pharmaceutical ad.
So do we just accept that ads are for the lowest common denominator and that we are slowly being coaxed into joining said dummy denomination, or should we just tune out and silently wait until the ads are interrupted with entertainment?
Last Updated on 04/24/2026 by Death of Hypatia Inc.
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