Pocatello man’s controversial video about mental health and medication goes viral

While cleaning his room, Jon Elizarraras came across an old box of medication. Lithium, Olanzapine and Hydroxyzine were among the many pills inside.

“I looked at it and I only saw old me,” Elizarraras said. “I wanted to cleanse anything from the past, anything negative.”

And even though he claimed that none of them ever worked for him, Jon couldn’t just get rid of the box. It was something that had impacted his life.

“I kinda just want to share my story, share my goodbyes with it,” he thought.

So Jon decided to make a video and share it on Twitter. In the post, he says “you don’t need them,” explaining that he has been off the medication since the start of 2018.

Since the video was posted on April 7 it has been retweeted nearly 1,000 times and amassed over 4.5 million views.

Thousands have responded to the post, or to Jon directly. Many unhappy with the message, saying he’s encouraging dangerous behavior.

And some mental health websites seem to share the same concerns.

A passage on Mental Health America’s website reads, “quitting is a big decision and can seriously affect your health, so think it through carefully.” And another from the National Institue of Mental Health says “Once a person begins taking antidepressants, it is important to not stop taking them without the help of a doctor.”

But Jon says his message isn’t telling people to stop cold turkey, rather he’s trying to help uplift them and give them hope that there will be a point in their lives where they won’t need the medication.

“I just wish that when I was going through these things I had seen oh my gosh, there’s that guy. You know, or there’s someone fighting it, there’s somebody who believes the same thing as me,” he explained.

“So, I want to be that, even for the few. Even if I know most people don’t agree.”

And there are many who don’t. Hundreds of comments, many with stories about family members who thought they could stop and died or people who said his message is “toxic,” have been posted in response.

“Anti-depressants saved my life as a teenager. Not because I didn’t try w/out them, but because I understand science & the fact that my brain wasn’t producing the chemicals it needed to on its own,” one user wrote.

“Who do you think you are Jon? Your support means nothing because I don’t know you,” another added.

Jon has seen them and has responded with positivity.

But aside from the hundreds of negative comments and messages, many have reached out to thank him.

“Hundreds of messages. People have shared their stories, shared what they’re going through with me, connected with me,” Jon explained.

At a dark time in Jon’s life, experiencing suicidal thoughts, he decided he wanted to try to live a life for others.

“I knew that that was that day. The day that I kind of overcame that last suicidal thought and I said dude if I could beat it once if I can create this and create this and get past it and overcome it once, then I’ll always be able to do it.”

Since then, he’s felt that his purpose is to serve and help others do the same.

He never expected the video to garner as much attention as it has, but the response to it has inspired him to try to help even more people.

“Maybe I just started this little spark, this little flame that gets started and it’s like I need to keep adding to it, I want to keep going,” he explained. “Because I want this to be a big thing, I want to help a lot of people. I want to do something big.”