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On Lexapro

 The fun thing about Lexapro is that it is utterly banal; the experience of getting it, and taking it, is "fully average."


I know this, because I have a friend who made me laugh a few weeks ago. We were talking about Ozempic, and I was disclosing the news that this new weight-loss drug might make you want to kill yourself.

"Oh, fuck," said my friend. "Well, I still want it. I'm drowning in so much Klonopin, and Zoloft, and Aderall, I think all that stuff can just silence the 'pro-suicide' buzz....."

This was the best sentence I'd heard in weeks.

One guiding light for me is the writer Julia Wertz, who discovered that she was depressed when a friend made a comment about her wardrobe. "Do you realize you dress in black sweatsuits all the time, and they're heavily stained?" This struck a chord with me--because I once ran an errand to my child's school, and I was coated in spit-up, and I had just thrown sandals over my socks. I could actually feel the principal's judgment; it was sort of palpable; and I hadn't even realized that this moment of "shaming" could be a possibility.

I'm really enjoying my new drug--even if this is just a "placebo" stage--and I am half-intrigued to think about what next week might bring...
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