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Dr. Neil Cornwell, a family medicine physician in Boston completing his residency, has struggled with anxiety "for quite some time," but was never able to put a label on it, he tells TODAY.com. So when he and his fiancée adopted a dog with anxiety a few years ago, it was a match made in social media heaven. Both Cornwell and his dog, Cammie, a boxer-beagle mix, take a daily medication called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), which can treat anxiety, depression and more. So Cornwell, 28, recently started a TikTok series where they take their meds together to bring awareness to their conditions. It's since gone mega-viral. In the most popular video, which has garnered over 1 million views and 200,000 likes, Cornwell munches on a mini ice cream cone and takes his Lexapro while Cammie enjoys some pumpkin purée with her Prozac, and he shares what made each of them anxious that day. For Cammie, he suspects it was a limp that came out of nowhere, and for Cornwell, it was deciding whether to go to the gym after a long work day. “My fiancée encouraged me to start talking about what made me anxious while I took my anxiety medication and I did a couple of different (video) variations,” Cornwell says. Now, Cornwell and Cammie's debrief to the camera in the kitchen is a nightly occurrence. “Talking about what made me anxious today and then doing it with Cammie, as well, was a way of making it easier for me to process and reflect,” Cornwell says. His mission for the series? To destigmatize mental health in way that feels authentic. An estimated 19% of adults in the U.S. suffer from anxiety disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, and Cornwell hopes that seeing a doctor, like himself, discuss mental health can help normalize it. “I am a medical provider, and I am anxious, and I think there are many medical providers who are anxious, but again, it’s extremely stigmatized ... in society (and) in the medical profession,” Cornwell says. “That’s a shame because patients deserve to feel like they are being represented by the people that are taking care of them, whether it’s anxiety or other medical conditions,” he adds. Cornwell says a lot of his anxiety formed from the stress of medical school, around the same time he and his fiancée gave Cammie a home. She was found on the side of the road with a bad infection and at risk of being put down, according to her owner. Cornwell says he tries to have fun with the series, playing around with different backgrounds and shirts. He also varies what foods they eat with their anxiety medication. Some other examples of what's made the duo anxious include work, sleep, doing the interview with TODAY.com for this story, vacuum cleaners and packed suitcases. (The last two mainly apply to Cammie.) The comments on his series are abuzz with personal mental health anecdotes and Cammie fans, who point out her distinct facial reactions as Cornwell speaks. A moment Cornwell describes as "surreal" was when Bella Hadid, known for her mental health advocacy, reposted his TikTok. "To have her on one of her social media platforms elevate that message really just shows how prevalent anxiety is, and how important it is that we continue talking about mental health," Cornwell says. But every single response to his series has been rewarding and made him feel seen — and he hopes the series does the same for viewers. "By just having this open conversation, I've gotten an uncountable amount of messages of people saying, 'Thank you for doing this,''' Cornwell says.
