Why do some doctors prescribe antidepressants for things other than depression?
It is not about the debate on whether drugs are yes or drugs are not to treat depression. It seems quite evident that to overcome a disorder such as depression, both medication and psychological therapy are needed, so we do not want to demonize prescription drugs. But do take them with caution, because there are some risks in taking antidepressants without depression, effects that you don’t have to expose yourself to.
How antidepressants work
- Antidepressants work, of course they do. Depression is a disorder in which brain chemical processes come into play, it is not just a state of mind. Chemistry is treated with chemistry and these drugs increase levels of serotonin, a necessary substance that is not produced by the brain itself when you have depression.
- So, if you have depression, you will need a drug that regulates these neurotransmitters for a while, until your brain is able to produce serotonin naturally and without external help. But if you have depression, just as important as antidepressants will be a psychological treatment that helps you understand your disease and protect yourself from it in the future.
- And if you don’t have depression, why do you want antidepressants? If you don’t have depression, you don’t need to produce more serotonin, so the function of these drugs is useless. So why do doctors prescribe antidepressants for things other than depression? We do not have the answer, it remains up in the air. Like the doubts about the ease of prescribing drugs such as antidepressants or anxiolytics at the first opportunity. But in this situation we can only refuse.
The dangers of taking antidepressants without needing them
- You can and should refuse to take antidepressants if your psychologist has confirmed that you do not have depression. Antidepressants are prescribed for many other ailments, including anxiety disorders, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessary. On the contrary, taking antidepressants without depression has great risks.
- The drugs will only serve to hide some symptoms and, with this, your real problem, which is not depression, will be much more difficult to detect and diagnose. If you are already taking medication, you will not be able to know what is really happening to you. When antidepressants are recommended, it is done despite their risks and side effects because they help overcome depressive disorder. But if you don’t have depression, why take that risk?
- Many antidepressants favor the onset of insomnia. If you didn’t have problems sleeping and now you have trouble falling asleep, you are adding more problems to those you already had. And you are not solving anything, since the medicines you take help to cure a disease that you do not really have.
- Fatigue and tiredness, common symptoms of depression, may be due to other causes and one of the side effects of antidepressants is precisely tiredness. In this way, while you take these drugs you will not be able to find out the origin of that fatigue.
- One of the first things you notice when you take antidepressants is an increase in appetite, which can translate into weight gain. This can be prevented by doing physical exercise, but between insomnia and fatigue, the most common thing is that the last thing you want is to move.
- There are other effects of antidepressants such as dizziness, dry mouth, constipation or even blurred vision that will complicate your day to day without taking advantage of its benefits, that is, helping you with depression, since you don’t have it. As well as a drastic decrease in sexual desire, which in addition to lowering your self-esteem can lead you to have relationship problems.