Sage-Tips

Can you take antidepressants for life?

Long-term—even indefinite—use of antidepressants may be the best treatment for someone with multiple past episodes of depression, especially if they have a history of suicide attempts or have residual symptoms, like sleep problems, says Dr.

How long is too long to be on antidepressants?

Clinicians generally recommend staying on the medication for six to nine months before considering going off antidepressants. If you’ve had three or more recurrences of depression, make that at least two years.

How long should I be on antidepressants?

You may be tempted to stop taking antidepressants as soon as your symptoms ease, but depression can return if you quit too soon. Clinicians generally recommend staying on the medication for six to nine months before considering going off it.

Can antidepressants cause long-term damage?

Long-term antidepressant users are risking permanent damage to their bodies, according to leading medical experts. Dr Tony Kendrick, a professor of primary care at the University of Southampton, says more urgent action needs to be taken to encourage and support long-term users to come off the medication.

Do antidepressants change your brain forever?

They work by immediately increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain and by causing long term changes in brain function. However it can take weeks of treatment before a patient feels any effect and both beneficial effects and side effects can persist after treatment is stopped.

How long is the average person on antidepressants?

The length of treatment varies. Even once you do start to feel better, you should expect to remain on your antidepressant for at least 4 to 6 additional months. Those experiencing depression for the first time may require even longer, from 6 to 12 months.

Do I really need antidepressants?

Your doctor might suggest that you try antidepressants if: You have tried counselling and lifestyle changes, and they haven’t worked. Your symptoms are bad enough that they interfere with your daily life.

Should I stop taking my antidepressants?

The guiding assumption of all the psychiatrists who treated me was that failure of one medication should be followed by others until an effective one was found. No psychiatrist ever suggested that I should stop using antidepressants. They assumed that stopping treatment would lead to relapse.

How long should you take antidepressants for depression?

Continue taking antidepressant medicine even when you start to feel better. Although it may be tempting to stop medication as your mood lifts, continue taking it for as long as your doctor recommends. Most doctors advise patients to take antidepressants for six months to a year after they no longer feel depressed.

Is antidepressant continuation therapy effective for depression?

Antidepressant continuation therapy is in variably more effective than placebo, illustrating the need for continuation therapy with all treatments, including psychotherapy.

Are antidepressants becoming more resistant?

The lead researcher, Rif El Mallakh, points out that resistance to treatment with antidepressants has dramatically increased, from 10-15\% of patients in the early 90s to 40\% in 2006. This corresponds to the period of explosive growth in the use of these drugs, especially for long-term maintenance treatment designed to protect against relapse.