Posted on 11/13/2024 2:15:34 PM PST by ConservativeMind
Colin Xu has co-authored a new study that challenges popular beliefs about the progression of side effects in patients undergoing antidepressant treatment.
The study analyzed data from 2,833 patients treated with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) citalopram, commonly known as Celexal.
Contrary to the traditional belief that antidepressant side effects improve over time, the study finds that this perceived improvement in part may be due to patients with severe side effects discontinuing treatment early, rather than a universal reduction in side effect symptoms for all patients.
"There is a common belief in psychiatry that patients will simply 'get used to' the side effects of antidepressants over time," Xu said. "For instance, even the National Institutes of Health's website states that: 'The side effects tend to go away with time.'
"While this may be true for many patients, our study found that a nontrivial proportion of individuals experienced worsening side effects in the early weeks of treatment, which was then linked to a higher risk of discontinuing medication.
"Once these individuals with worsening side effects dropped out of the study, only the patients with improving side effects remained, thus masking the true trajectory of how side effects change over the course of SSRI treatment."
The implications of these findings are crucial for clinicians. Xu and Kim's research emphasizes the need for close monitoring, particularly during the initial weeks of treatment when patients are most vulnerable to severe side effects.
The researchers suggest that for patients showing worsening side effects clinicians should consider adjusting their treatment plan, such as exploring alternative medications or integrating psychotherapy instead of relying on the expectation that side effects will naturally subside.
"This has practical implications for psychiatrists and health care providers," Xu said. "Clinicians should not assume that side effects will universally decrease over time."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
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Most if not nearly all people with depression problems only need sunshine or vitamin D3 supplements. I have seen it work with my daughter and three other people. Clinical depression is a result of insufficient vitamin D. In Việt Nam Depression or worse, manic depression is not uncommon among city women who cover up totally when they go out in the tropic sun because they have heard all their lives that they must not let the sun touch their skin or they can never get a husband. Once married it is steel hard habit. I convinced a young woman who was headed for suicide to go out every day in short sleeves midmorning and midafternoon. 20 years later she is married with two children, stable and happy, and dresses in western fashions-short skirt and short sleeves, and she is an evangelist to other women to show some skin daily.
Beautiful story!
There likely needs to be some more restraint. My guess is, as with so many drugs pertaining to all aspects of health: doses are too high and taken for too long.
But to suggest psychedelics and marijuana instead is shameful.
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