Category: Antidepressants

Largest ever survey of long-term antidepressant use.

Over half of people experience withdrawal symptoms when trying to quit antidepressants, new research finds.

Antidepressant withdrawal symptoms — which typically last around two to three months — include headaches, nausea and anxiety.

In addition, almost one-third of people report becoming addicted to antidepressants.

Despite these high numbers, only 1% of people could recall the prescribing doctor mentioning withdrawal problems as a possible side-effect.

Particularly high rates of withdrawal symptoms were reported for Paroxetine, which is known commercially as Paxil, Seroxat and others.

Professor John Read, who led the study, said:

“This study was not designed to definitively answer the question of whether or not antidepressants are addictive because there are a range of expert definitions of addiction.

But what it did set out to do was make a significant contribution to the estimated rates of long-term usage in relation to self-reported withdrawal and addiction by directly asking users about their experience.

The results point to a significant number of people prescribed antidepressants who have experienced some withdrawal effects and who believe the drugs are addictive.”

The results come from a survey of 1,829 New Zealanders who were asked about their experience of antidepressants.

The results showed that 54.9% had experienced at least some withdrawal symptoms.

Among these, 25.1% reported severe withdrawal symptoms.

Of the 27.4% of people who reported some level of addiction, 6.2% rated it ‘severe’, 9.4% said it was ‘moderate’ and 11.8% said ‘mild’.

The remainder reported that they had not become addicted.

Some people went back on antidepressants to avoid the withdrawal symptoms.

Rise in antidepressant prescription

Around 10% of people in some countries, such as the US and the UK, are prescribed antidepressants each year.

Professor Read said:

“Given some evidence from research conducted in the UK, it appears that the rise in antidepressant prescriptions can be explained by repeat prescriptions rather than new patients.

So given that people are staying on antidepressants for longer, the issue of whether or not people feel addicted and whether or not those who stop taking them are experiencing withdrawal symptoms becomes important.”

The study was published in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing (Read et al., 2018).

Two aspects of personality linked to depression are changed by antidepressants.

Antidepressants can change two aspects of personality that are linked to depression, research finds.

Neuroticism — which is characterised by negative thinking in a range of areas — was reduced in people taking a common antidepressant.

At the same time, people’s extroversion was increased, making them feel more outgoing and sociable.

Extroversion is also linked to feeling more positive emotions.

The antidepressant tested in the study is called paroxetine, which is known commercially as Paxil and Seroxat, among other names.

The studies authors write:

“Patients taking paroxetine reported 6.8 times as much change on neuroticism and 3.5 times as much change on extraversion as placebo patients matched for depression improvement.”

For the study, 120 depressed patients took paroxetine and were compared to people given cognitive therapy and a placebo over 12 months.

All three groups saw improvements, even the placebo group.

However, only those taking the antidepressant experienced changes to their personality.

They authors explain:

“Neuroticism and extraversion are 2 of the 5 primary personality dimensions in the Five-Factor Model of Personality.

Neuroticism refers to a tendency to experience negative emotions and emotional instability; extraversion encompasses social extraversion, dominance, and a tendency to experience positive emotions.”

While antidepressants can be effective, still relatively little is known about how they work.

The study’s authors write:

“One possibility is that the biochemical properties of SSRIs directly produce real personality change.

Furthermore, because neuroticism is an important risk factor that captures much of the genetic vulnerability for major depressive disorder, change in neuroticism (and in neurobiological factors underlying neuroticism) might have contributed to depression improvement.”

The study was published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry (Tang et al., 2009).

Millions are prescribed antidepressants each year, but what are they doing to the body?

Antidepressants may do more harm than good, according to a review looking at the drug’s impact on the whole body.

While the drugs may be effective at alleviating depression, they have considerable side-effects.

The researchers found three studies that suggest people taking antidepressants die at a higher rate.

One study has even suggested antidepressants may increase the risk of death by 33%.

Dr Paul Andrews, the study’s first author, said:

“We need to be much more cautious about the widespread use of these drugs.

It’s important because millions of people are prescribed anti-depressants each year, and the conventional wisdom about these drugs is that they’re safe and effective.”

The study found that the side-effects of antidepressants include:

• Problems with sexual stimulation and function — they also affect sperm development.
• Digestive problems like constipation, diarrhea, indigestion and bloating.
• Developmental problems in children.
• Strokes and abnormal bleeding in the elderly.

Many of these processes are regulated by serotonin.

Dr Andrews said:

“Serotonin is an ancient chemical. It’s intimately regulating many different processes, and when you interfere with these things you can expect, from an evolutionary perspective, that it’s going to cause some harm.

The thing that’s been missing in the debates about anti-depressants is an overall assessment of all these negative effects relative to their potential beneficial effects.

Most of this evidence has been out there for years and nobody has been looking at this basic issue.”

Previous studies by Dr Andrews and colleagues have found relatively minimal benefits of antidepressants.

They have also found people were more likely to relapse after taking the drug.

Dr Andrews said:

“It could change the way we think about such major pharmaceutical drugs.

You’ve got a minimal benefit, a laundry list of negative effects — some small, some rare and some not so rare.

The issue is: does the list of negative effects outweigh the minimal benefit?”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology (Andrews et al., 2012).