Every medication can have severe and permanent side effects, the question is how often that occurs for a particular drug, and how that stacks up against the quality-of-life improvement from taking that drug.
SSRIs are by an order of a magnitude worse than any other common medication in that respect.
Moreover, like I said there's little evidence these drugs actually achieve any quality-of-life improvement beyond a placebo effect.
It was really hard for my ex to have to choose between anti-psychs and the potential side effects, or exceedingly strong paranoia with incredibly lucid hallucinations - I did not envy her position