Antidepressants: Are They Addictive: Psychology Today Magazine

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> SSRI-Research

> Wed, 25 Aug 2004 17:45:15 -0400

 

> [sSRI-Research] Antidepressants: Are They

> Addictive: Psychology Today Magazine

>

> The second paragraph reads: " Jamé Tierney was 14

> years old when she started taking Effexor, a

> serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI),

> for her migraines. When she slowly tapered off the

> drug, Jamé experienced vomiting, suicidal impulses,

> electric shock-like sensations and fatigue, "

>

>

http://www.psychologytoday.com/htdocs/prod/PTOArticle/PTO-20030826-000012.asp

>

> Are Antidepressants Addictive?

> By Tiffany Kary -- Publication Jul/Aug 2003

>

> Summary: Claims that drug withdrawal leads to

> illness.

>

> The pain and nausea some people feel when they stop

> taking certain antidepressants is spurring

> controversy over whether these drugs should carry

> explicit warning labels about withdrawal.

>

> Jamé Tierney was 14 years old when she started

> taking Effexor, a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake

> inhibitor (SNRI), for her migraines. When she slowly

> tapered off the drug, Jamé experienced vomiting,

> suicidal impulses, electric shock-like sensations

> and fatigue. She likened her confusion of time and

> space to special effects in the movie " The Matrix. "

>

> Such withdrawal has often been mistaken for

> depression relapse. However, mounting testimony from

> people like Jamé, who were prescribed SNRIs or

> selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs),

> such as Prozac or Zoloft, for nonpsychiatric

> conditions could publicize what doctors say is a

> phenomenon recognized since the late 1990s. Patients

> using Paxil and Effexor report the most severe

> problems because those drugs have the shortest

> half-lives, which make them the quickest to exit the

> system.

>

> Some experts estimate 50 to 80 percent of patients

> experience withdrawal from Paxil when they go cold

> turkey, but this number is controversial. Jonathan

> Alpert, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of

> psychiatry at Harvard University, says there are no

> definitive estimates, but believes that for patients

> who taper off the drugs, the number could be less

> than 5 percent. Even for patients who stop suddenly,

> scenarios like Jamé's are rare, he adds.

>

> " The great majority of patients who stop their

> antidepressants abruptly get away with it, " says

> Alpert.

>

> David L. Dunner, M.D., director of the Center for

> Anxiety and Depression at the University of

> Washington, says studies show less than 25 percent

> of patients who quit Paxil experience symptoms.

>

> Though Paxil and Effexor labels now warn of

> " discontinuation, " some say the labels aren't

> adequate. Lawyer Karen Barth, who represents 35

> patients in a California lawsuit, says her firm has

> heard from some 10,000 Paxil patients.

>

> Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., author of Prozac Backlash,

> sees a potential crisis should withdrawal become

> widely recognized.

>

> " Thousands and thousands of people have tried to go

> off SSRIs, and their doctors have mistaken it for a

> relapse [into depression], " says Glenmullen, who

> advocates therapy in addition to tapering off the

> medication in order to distinguish a relapse should

> one occur.

>

 

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