Posted by Christ_empowered on January 19, 2016, at 12:10:06
In reply to Do SSRI's really 'numb you to life'?, posted by john locke on January 18, 2016, at 22:21:15
Depends. I think that's an over-generalization. When I was on maxed out Zoloft years ago, I was a bit of a dullard. Now, I take Wellbutrin instead of an SSRI...in part to avoid the dullard-ness and also because a lot of what an SSRI would do for me (reduce anxiety, reduce obsessive thoughts, general calming) is already taken care of by my 30mgs/Abilify.
Now...personal example aside...I've read that men complain of apathy more often than women. I don't know if that means it happens more to men than women, or if men just feel more comfortable being vocal about it because of gender norms.
High doses can lead to hypo-frontality, just as neuroleptics can. There seems to be variation in how each individual responds, and I don't think its just a bio-chemical thing. I skimmed over this paper from the 50s about how gender and personality types affected patient response to Tofranil, which was then a new kid on the block. My best wild *ss guess is that its not just how the pills affect your brain, its your personality structure and probably other things, too, like age, gender, overall health, psychosocial factors, etc.
Dr.David Healy has been very critical of over-use of SSRI drugs, but he still uses them in some circumstances. I read a brief article by him...basically, docs should go back to a drug-centered, rather than "diseases"-centered model for prescribing meds. My "depression" is probably very different from your "depression," so treatment should ideally be based upon improving core symptoms (the ones that actually respond to drugs).
I've rambled...
poster:Christ_empowered
thread:1085545
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20151225/msgs/1085560.html