A University of Liverpool study discovered thoughts of suicide, sexual difficulties, and emotional numbness as a result of antidepressants may be more widespread than previously thought, even though many survey respondents reported the drugs reduced their depression.
In a survey of 1,829 people who had been prescribed antidepressants, the researchers found large numbers of people — over half in some cases — commented on psychological problems due to their medication.
This findings, as discussed in the journal Psychiatry Research, have led to growing concerns about the scale of the problem of over-prescription of these drugs.
Psychologist and lead researcher Dr. John Read from the University’s Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, 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.”
In the study, each person completed an online questionnaire which asked about twenty adverse effects.
The study was carried out in New Zealand, and all of the participants had been on antidepressants in the last five years.
The survey factored in people’s levels of depression and asked them to report on how they had felt while taking the medication.
Over half of people aged 18 to 25 in the study reported suicidal feelings and in the total sample there were large percentages of people suffering from “sexual difficulties” (62 percent) and “feeling emotionally numb” (60 percent).
Percentages for other effects included: “feeling not like myself” (52 percent), “reduction in positive feelings” (42 percent), “caring less about others” (39 percent) and “withdrawal effects” (55 percent).
However, 82 percent reported that the drugs had helped alleviate their depression.
Professor Read concluded: “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.”
Source: University of Liverpool