Can someone please explain to me how an anti-depressant could cause more depression? I've been reading about this a lot and I even thought it was true myself but my doctor says it's impossible. That's like taking tylenol for a headache only to have the tylenol make it worse...it just doesn't make sense to me.

Girl3900-

Given that the FDA has requested that the manufacturers of nine antidepressants add warnings to their labels that they may worsen depression and suicidality, I can't see how your doctor can shrug and say "it's impossible".
Seems to me you're more up to date on all this than he is!

There are ongoing clinical trials being conducted to address this very issue of what they call "paradoxical reactions" to antidepressant meds. It's pretty complicated but there have been many reports of exacerbated depression in some patients with mood and anxiety disorders and in bi-polar disorder.
But also, during long-term treatment, there are indications that some people develop a "tolerance" to these drugs whereby they cease to be effective, so it appears that the drug causes depression where actually it's just stopped working. ALSO, sometimes when switching drugs, depression gets worse simply because of withdrawal from drug # 1, before drug #2 has a chance to kick in.

More serious studies are ongoing to sort a lot of this out, but it is not out of the question that in some susceptible individuals, a true paradoxical reaction occurs.
If it can occur with anti-anxiety meds like Librium for instance, I can't see why would it be out of the question for other mood-altering drugs.

zuzu xx

Zuzu,
I am so very glad that you posted this.i was going to post pretty much the same thing as my son just was Dxed with having some sort of bi ploar disorder caused by his SSRIs.He is extremely sensitive to any and all SSRIs that we have tried over this past year.After his last rather over the top manic type episode, just a week and a hlf ago, the physologist at the facility that we had to put him in(horrers!!)Determined that he did indeed have a very strong sensitivity reaction anytime we either changed the dosage(usually up)or we tried a totally different SSRI.

this past year has been absolute hell for us and espesially him, not knowing just why he was doing such crazy things.The fact that he also was taking a steroid to prevent rejection of his transplanted liver just really exacerbated an already bad situation.I would advise ANYONE who is taking an SSRI and needs to take some form of a steroid,my son is on prednisone, to think twice about doing it.I also have a friend who had horrid mood swings when she was started on prednisone to reduce the inflammation in her arthropic spine.She was also taking celexa.I don't think that most Drs are aware of this unfortunate reaction.So, we have to be on the ball here and push this with our Drs.If you don't feel right being on the drug, then get the hell off,before something possibly happens.

For any Dr to say that any type of strange reaction to any drug is impossible just shows their ignorance.If you are having more depression when taking the drug, then obviously it IS possible.I think you need to see another dr.This one is obviously very close minded.

My best advice to you would be to do your research on this and then bring it all to your dr to support your claim.I am sure that this is someting that has happened to other people out there somewhere,you just need to search for the information.

Good luck to you. Marcia

Excellent answers were given here! I'd just like to add that I read something on tolerance. Tolerance was explained as a defense mechanism against psychoactive meds which attempt to control the brain functions. The brain is overcome by them in the beginning but is slowly setting up oppossing receptors to counteract the drug....in other words, if one is taking a "downer" like a benzodiazepine which targets inhibitory receptors (GABA), the brain will attempt to create more excitatory receptors to combat this. Also, the brain would no longer attempt to create it's own inhibitory receptors since drugs do that for it. So the brain ends up with too many excitatory receptors plus it doesn't make it's own inhibitory......creating an imbalance much like an electrical storm....no wonder benzo withdrawals are so bad for those who have developed tolerance!

I'm guessing then, since antidepressants target serotonin metabolism, the brain would be pretty lazy about serotonin production because of the drug, plus it would no doubt be creating opposing receptors as well to the drug! The brain would literally be trying to oppose, or shut down it's serotonin system! Not good.... :eek:

Luckily, the brain can reverse/correct this if given the chance. Very slow weaning and then after withdrawal, a sometimes long recovery period which requires alot of patience....

This is a very interesting discussion in light of the fact that so many envirnomental causes of depression exist now days. I believe that more blood testing should be developed to link the correct anti-depressant with the person being medicated. Just like they test anti-cancer drugs to find out what the tumor response is to antiogenisis drugs. The human body does change and the medications that the psychiatrists give are usually given based on a ruled out Thyroid condition and sometimes the patient just walks into the office and says that life stinks, and they give them an anti-depressant. So much more medical testing is really called for before they dole out these wonder drugs.

Exactly and Amen to what you said!!! Intil they can come up with accurate biological testing for this stuff, such as they can with something like diabetes, they shouldn't be playing russian roulette with peoples brains.

Whoa there! No such blood test or biological test currently exists. The proof that these drugs are effective is overwhelming. Much of drug action is based on theory anyway. You may have had a bad experience, but not everyone has. Just the same, these drugs are being overprescribed. A quick fix for a time-pinched physician.
Positive4U :)

Whoa there! No such blood test or biological test currently exists. The proof that these drugs are effective is overwhelming. Much of drug action is based on theory anyway. You may have had a bad experience, but not everyone has. Just the same, these drugs are being overprescribed. A quick fix for a time-pinched physician.
Positive4U :)

No such test exists...exactly my point. Thanks for bringing that up.

Then, in fact, they are guessing. One big ol' brain experiment. You are right about the theory part, for example, during the LSD experiments of the 1960's, they discovered one side effect of the drug was mood lifting...since it's a serotonin drug, wha-la! Unhappy people must be low in serotonin then was the conclusion. Nevermind the health damage or parodoxial/side/adverse effects of improperly metabolized serotonin, let them eat prozac...

I have to point out that the proof that the drugs work is not so overwhelming. We've got the discovery that was reported in the news about the pills not doing much better than placebo; then came the news stories of a lack of disclosure on the clinical trials in which the drugs did not score well....nothing illegal, because the drug companies are not required to publish all results in the medical journals, only what they choose. The rest are filed away.

Then the latest story that I read on Msnbc news where the clinical results were not accurate and very misleading....this all has become an on-going investigation of the FDA probes on antidepressants of late. They have found that placebos made alot of the patients feel just as good as the actual drugs.

So, not only is it questionable these drugs are all that, but the link between children and suicidal idealization, possible manic attacks, the health risks and such make them a drug that should be under question to be prescribed to so many people.