Category: Antidepressants

This antidepressant causes different changes in brains of depressed and non-depressed.

A common antidepressant changes the brains of depressed and nondepressed people in different ways, a new study finds.

Sertraline, which is marketed as Zoloft, increased brain volume in one area in depressed people, the researchers found.

In nondepressed people, though, it decreased brain volume in the same area.

The areas are critical to learning, memory, spatial navigation, emotion and motivation.

Professor Carol A. Shively, who led the study, said:

“These observations are important for human health because Zoloft is widely prescribed for a number of disorders other than depression.”

The conclusions come from a study of monkeys, which have similar brain structures to humans.

A group of monkeys were fed the antidepressant for 18 months — equivalent to five years in humans.

They were compared with a placebo group.

Brain scans revealed the antidepressant increased brain volume in the anterior cingulate cortex.

In nondepressed patients, though, it decreased brain volume in the same area, as well as in the hippocampus.

Both areas are critical to learning, memory, spatial navigation, emotion and motivation.

It could be that antidepressants can be useful by promoting neuron growth in these critical areas.

Professor Shively said:

“The study’s findings regarding the different effects of sertraline on brain-region volumes in depressed versus non-depressed subjects are compelling.

But given the number of different disorders for which SSRIs are prescribed, the findings need to be investigated further in patient populations to see if these drugs produce similar effects in humans.”

The research was published in the journal Neuropharmacology (Willard et al., 2015).

Shiny brain image from Shutterstock

The flaw in the most common treatment for depression.

New research challenges the idea that there is a link between depression and an imbalance in the levels of serotonin in the brain.

It once again questions the use of commonly used antidepressants, which work on the basis that depression is related to lower levels of serotonin in the brain.

Taking SSRIs — like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft — increases the levels of serotonin in the brain and, supposedly, helps lift depression.

However, there is no way to measure serotonin in the brain and it’s not known exactly how SSRIs actually work.

Researchers now know that around two-thirds of people continue to be depressed even while taking the drug.

Critics of SSRIs say that 80% of their effect is placebo: in other words, the belief or hope that a medicine might work is enough to make you feel a bit better.

One study has even found them clinically insignificant.

This vital debate has now inspired researchers to genetically engineer mice that are incapable of producing serotonin in their brains (Angoa-Pérez et al., 2014).

In theory, they should have bred a race of super-depressed mice.

It turns out, though, that the reality was quite different.

Professor Donald Kuhn and colleagues, who bred the mice, ran a series of behavioural tests to determine the effects of lowered serotonin levels.

They found the mice showed no signs of depression but were extremely aggressive and demonstrated compulsive behaviour.

The most surprising finding, though, was that when under stress, they behaved in exactly the same way as normal mice.

The study questions the well-established chemical explanation for how depression affects the brain, and how it should be treated.

Although this is only a study of mice, it is another blow for a range of drugs that is currently the most common form of treatment for depression.

Image credit: cora alvarez

Antidepressants side-effects: in the US one in ten are prescribed antidepressants each year, but are they told about ALL the side-effects?

A new survey of antidepressants side-effects has found higher than expected levels of emotional numbness, sexual problems and even suicidal thoughts associated with the medication (Read et al., 2014).

The study, published in the journal Psychiatry Research, found that as many as half the people they surveyed had psychological problems due to their medication.

The authors again question whether antidepressants are being over-prescribed.

The paper’s lead author, Professor John Read, said:

“The medicalization of sadness and distress has reached bizarre levels. One in ten people in some countries are now prescribed antidepressants each year.

“While the biological side-effects of antidepressants, such as weight gain and nausea, are well documented, the psychological and interpersonal effects have been largely ignored or denied. They appear to be alarmingly common.”

The study gathered data from 1,829 people from New Zealand who had all taken antidepressants in the last five years.

The questionnaire asked about how they had felt while they were taking their medication.

Of the 20 adverse effects that people were questioned about:

• 62% said they had ‘sexual difficulties’,
• 52% said they ‘didn’t feel like themselves’,
• 42% noticed a ‘reduction in positive feelings’,
• 39% found themselves ‘caring less about others’,
• and 55% reported ‘withdrawal effects’.

Set against these findings, though, 82% said that the drugs had been useful in tackling their depression.

The results took into account the fact that people had varying levels of depression.

Professor John Read commented on the results:

“Effects such as feeling emotionally numb and caring less about other people are of major concern. Our study also found that people are not being told about this when prescribed the drugs.

“Our finding that over a third of respondents reported suicidality ‘as a result of taking the antidepressants’ suggests that earlier studies may have underestimated the problem.”

Antidepressants side-effects

These findings come on top of a new review of studies examining patients’ experiences of taking antidepressants (Gibson et al., 2014).

Across the studies reviewed, people consistently reported a…

“…reduction of positive and negative emotions, emotional detachment, a belief that ADs prevent natural sadness, personality changes, harmful effects on relationships, fear of addiction, and suicidality.” (Read et al., 2014; referring to Gibson et al., 2014).

Given these frequently reported antidepressants side-effects, it is incredible how few people are told about them:

“Very few, it seems, are told about the more subtle, but pervasive and potentially demoralizing, effects on one’s ability to feel positive emotions, or to feel anything at all, or about the potential effects on their relationships with other people. The ethical principle of informed choice suggests that this needs to change.” (Read et al., 2014).

Image credit: ep_jhu

A new study published today is sure to set off another storm in the ongoing debate about the widespread prescription of antidepressants. Professor Irving Kirsch at the University of Hull and colleagues in the US and Canada report that new generation ‘SSRI’ antidepressants like Prozac or Seroxat mostly fall, “below the recommended criteria for clinical significance” (Kirsch et al. 2008). In other words, the most modern drugs prescribed for depression generally don’t work.

Continue reading “New Study: SSRI Antidepressants ‘Clinically Insignificant’ For Most People”