When Prozac came on the market in 1987, this new type of antidepressant, an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor), was heralded as the future of psychiatric medicine. It would treat depression without the side effects of tricyclic antidepressants because, according to the theory, sadness and depression are all related to a biochemical brain disorder: too little of the chemical messenger serotonin, which is key to our sense of well-being. The drug is said to be able to slow the ‘reuptake’ of serotonin so that more is available to help with messaging between neurons. While the theory has never been conclusively proven, other pharmaceutical companies quickly followed suit with their own versions of Prozac. Currently, more than one in six people in America and one in seven in Britain are taking an SSRI antidepressant. It is one of the most prescribed drugs in the world. However, new evidence shows that taking SSRIs blunts a person’s emotions — so much so that it deprives patients of the ability to respond to events in their lives, both positive and negative.
SSRIs Take away pain and joy
For example, an analysis of 112 studies found that both healthy volunteers and patients with depression experienced emotional blunting when taking SSRIs. 1 In another study of nearly 700 patients taking SSRIs, about half reported emotion impairment, including the ability to experience pleasure or cry.2 Another study found that ‘SSRI antidepressants produce changes in emotional processing, altering the recognition of all basic emotions such as happiness, sadness, fear, disgust and surprise’.3
These studies suggest that while SSRIs take away emotional pain, they also take away a great deal of the joy of life. Research further concludes that the drugs have a major impact on our ability to make decisions. In one study, patients taking SSRIs were unable to recognize or learn from a sense of success or reward when performing tasks.4 The drugs also cause problems in decision-making processes. For example, a study in healthy volunteers reported a decrease in their reluctance to take risks after just three weeks of taking an SSRI drug.
All this research indicates that SSRIs seem to disrupt neuronal pathways, causing the brain to function abnormally, and people can no longer tell the difference between something that is joyful, satisfying and rewarding and something that is doing them harm. These neuronal changes may eventually be permanent with long-term use of SSRIs, due to the downregulation of the feel-good hormone dopamine—a situation associated with chronic apathy and a lack of the ability to feel.
The big question remains for the psychiatric community: Is it better to feel nothing rather than pain? We don’t think so, especially since there are a lot of better and safer ways to heal an unhappy heart.
Sources
1. Clin Neuropsychiatry, 2019; 16(2): 75–85
2. J Affect Disord, 2017; 221: 31–35
3. Int J Bipolar Disord, 2016; 4: 6
4. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2023; 48(4): 664–70
2023-08-01 13:27:06
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