As an experiment to see how easy it is to get prescription drugs in America, I saw nine telehealth psychiatrists in 13 days. The result was 12 prescriptions representing over 300 pills: antidepressants, anxiolytics, alpha-blockers, sedatives, antihistamines, benzodiazepines, and antipsychotics. I never set foot in a doctor’s office. I never identified with a mental illness. I never spent more than 30 minutes with a doctor.
Like many 22-year-old women, I sometimes stay up too late and find that I’ve disrupted my sleep schedule and can’t crash when I want to. And like many 22-year-old women, I have an Instagram feed flooded with advertisements for therapy and psychiatric drugs offering to fix the imperfections in my life. Telehealth apps promise easy download, quick diagnostic quizzes, insurance compatibility, and (most importantly for a post-COVID generation) doing it all from home.
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