Antidepressants are the most popularly prescribed treatment for depression and various other mental health conditions, as they are mostly surrounded by misinformation and confusion. From worries about dependency to myths about personality changes, several people hesitate to consider antidepressants because of what they have heard, not what is actually true.
These misconceptions do create fear and stigma, preventing individuals from seeking effective mental health treatment. Let us break down certain common myths regarding antidepressants and provide clear, and evidence based information to aid you in a better understanding of how exactly these antidepressant medications really work.
What are Antidepressants?
Antidepressants are primarily prescribed medications that are mostly utilized to treat several mental health conditions, such as major depressive disorder.
Generalized anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and others. There exist several kinds of antidepressants that aid in addressing certain symptoms a patient might experience. Antidepressant medications aid in lessening symptoms of low mood and sadness, and can even aid in improving cognition and focus.
Despite all these medications being prescribed each and every single day and numerous people taking them as a form of treating all kinds of depression, there exist common myths and misconceptions that this blog will attempt to debunk.
What Do Antidepressants Do?
Antidepressants aid you in balancing certain brain chemicals like serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine that definitely affect both mood and emotions. By restoring these chemical levels, they can always reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and all kinds of mental health conditions, improve mood, sleep, and overall daily functions.
Antidepressants: Fiction vs Fact
Can Antidepressants Really Change Your Personality?
The majority of people wonder, do antidepressants definitely change your personality. And the very answer to this question is simply no.
Some of the common antidepressants simply work by increasing the level of serotonin. Serotonin is regarded as the happy hormone. Medications do regulate the level of serotonin in the brain and mostly help to improve mood, lessen anxiety, and aid individuals find pleasure in the activities that they once enjoyed. Simply put, antidepressants are used to improve a person’s quality of life.
There are well known Psychiatrists who are always well-versed in the use of antidepressants and work with patients simply to determine the most successful dose just to treat their symptoms. It is definitely true that too much serotonin definitely leads to blunting of emotions, and speaking with a mental health provider about subtle changes in your symptoms can aid you determine if you require an increase or a decrease in the dose of your antidepressant medication.
At the correct dose, antidepressants never alter who you are; they aid you to lift the weight of depression, so your true self can definitely come through. For instance, you might find it easy to laugh with friends, stay absolutely calm in stressful moments, and enjoy hobbies that you used to love. These changes aren’t a new personality; they are signs that the medication is reducing your symptoms and helping you feel more like yourself.
Do Antidepressants Cause Weight Gain
Is it the antidepressants that cause the weight gain? Not fully, antidepressants themselves never cause weight gain. It is the clinical research that has indicated that a patient who takes an SSRI medication to address depression is unlikely to gain more than five pounds throughout the treatment.
It is well thought out that this minimal increase in weight is mainly caused by the remission of depressive symptoms that often results in a patient’s appetite returning to a normal baseline.
On the other hand, when someone is struggling with depression or anxiety, their appetite is mostly reduced. Once they start feeling a bit better, their appetite mostly returns to normal. It can lead to small weight gain, as the patients were likely under-eating before due to subtle mental health problems. While the weight gain isn’t directly caused by the medications, it is a change in complete behavior.
For instance, A person struggling with anxiety might eat very little because of their symptoms related to anxiety. While after starting antidepressants, the anxiety definitely eases, and they are able to eat a normal, healthy amount again. This subtle return to regular eating can definitely result in a small amount of weight gain, but it may also reflect improved well-being rather than a direct effect of the medication.
Antidepressant medications like SSRIs have shown to improve conditions like Body Dysmorphic Disorder (body dysmorphia) and aid you to regulate and alleviate symptoms that are well associated with disordered eating, like Binge Eating Disorder and Bulimia.
Individuals with mental health conditions, weight, and body image are a large stressor for their overall well-being. The stigma associated with antidepressant use is that these medications will cause certain weight gain. It happens to be another surprising myth for the most popularly used antidepressants.
Do Antidepressants Lower Libido?
Do antidepressants really lower the libido? Absolutely, there is a possibility that antidepressants can definitely lower libido. While sexual side effects have already been linked to antidepressant use, the evidence behind this is pretty unclear, and there remains uncertainty that a patient will experience these potential side effects.
SSRI medications are the most popular antidepressants, which cause sexual dysfunction throughout the entire treatment. While it is the decreased libido, delayed ejaculation, impotence, and the inability to get or maintain an erection have always been seen as symptoms of depression. For certain patients, starting an antidepressant medication definitely improves their overall sexual dysfunction.
It is crucial to discuss certain potential side effects or react to prescribed medicine with your psychiatrists and even the provider. Citalopram is an FDA-approved antidepressant medication that has mostly clinical indications to improve a patient’s sexual side effects that are associated with SSRI use.
If you are an individual who has huge experience regarding sexual side effects with antidepressant use, and to determine whether the FDA-approved medicine is a suitable fit for you, do contact your healthcare provider.
Can Antidepressants Be Taken During Pregnancy?
Pregnancy can be an exciting experience, yet it can also be overwhelming. Patients who get pregnant might be really concerned about the potential effects of an antidepressant on their unborn child and the process of pregnancy altogether. A common misconception about antidepressants is that they are really harmful to take while being pregnant.
Can you consume antidepressants during pregnancy? Most often, the advantages of taking antidepressants while pregnant outweigh the risks. The majority of the clinical trials and scientific articles have mainly studied antidepressants, especially the SSRIs, which are used during pregnancy, and have already found that most often the benefit outweighs the risks as well.
It is critical to discuss these potential risks with your experienced doctor or healthcare provider just to ensure that antidepressant therapy during pregnancy is perfect for you. Majority SSRI medications definitely pose a low risk of harming the fetus, enabling an individual who is pregnant to continue addressing their symptoms of depression throughout and beyond their pregnancy. Another key benefit of SSRIs is that they are safe to take while breastfeeding.
Do Antidepressants Have Negative Long-term Health Effects?
The ultimate misconception that this specific article will debunk is that antidepressant medications do pose a threat to an individual’s physical health if they are consumed for prolonged periods. It is believed that antidepressant medicines are the mainstay of treatment for depression. The following medications are very well studied, and there exists little scientific evidence to support that the antidepressants have negative long-term health effects.
Clinical trials have always examined long-term effects on things like bone density, bleeding risk, and more. Results of these trials indicate that these medications pose no significant threat to an individual’s physical health compared with a placebo.
One of the best ways to ensure you are addressing physical health concerns is to continue regular follow-up with your primary care doctor.
Key Takeaway
While at the mental health clinic that you often refer to for your antidepressant problem, you can certainly understand that depression looks absolutely different for each and everyone, which is why we create personalized depression treatment plans that might consist of both depression therapy and depression medication.
Antidepressants mainly play a critical role in easing symptoms, aid you to feel more balanced, and they are able to engage in daily life. The experienced psychiatrists and therapists that you refer to will closely work with you to determine the perfect approach, whether it be medication, therapy for depression, or a combination of both.
With compassionate support and evidence-based care, your doctor will aid you to certainly find long lasting relief from depression and claim back your quality of life. The clinic that you generally consult further offer cutting edge depression treatment options like TMS for depression, IOP for depression, and PHP for depression.
While you are looking for a psychiatrist near you to simply start treatment, or haven’t had success with previous treatment and are looking for a change, they will certainly aid you. Find the best psychiatrist near you by exploring our clinic location.