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Are Antidepressants Highly Addictive?

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People across the world are highly vulnerable to depression, stress, and anxiety. These psychological disorders develop several other types of issues such as nervousness, restlessness, panic attacks, palpitation, weakness, etc. In order to reduce these symptoms, doctor usually prescribes antidepressants. It is found that antidepressants work in a large way to reduce the symptoms of depression and anxiety as long as the patient takes the medication. However, the biggest question is whether the antidepressants can lead the patient to addiction.

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Are Antidepressants Highly Addictive?
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Are Antidepressants Highly Addictive?

Many people think that antidepressant is very dangerous as it is mostly seen that when a patient starts to take it he cannot leave it anymore. This is because while the patient tries to quit the antidepressants his symptoms of anxiety increase. Thus, without consulting the doctor the patient should not stop antidepressants all of a sudden. Actually what happens is that when a patient takes antidepressants for a long time his body gets adjusted with the drugs. So, when the patient leaves the drug suddenly it becomes difficult for the body to regulate the normal function and as a result, some abnormal symptoms are seen in the patient. The patient starts experiencing anxiousness, dizziness, stomach upset, nausea, headache, flu, etc. These are some symptoms that are not caused due to the addiction to antidepressants. However, this condition of the patient is often confused by the people and they think that the patient is addicted to the antidepressants.

The symptoms that are seen in the patient after leaving the antidepressants usually happens as the patient had stopped taking the antidepressants very quickly. So, whenever the patient feels that they should stop taking antidepressants it is very essential they contact their doctor and gradually reduce the dosage of the antidepressants so that the body gets enough time to adjust. Actually, the doctor who had prescribed the antidepressants should be consulted before leaving the antidepressants or reducing the dosage of antidepressants because it is that doctor who knows the background history of the patient. The doctor can easily decide the best way about how the patient should reduce the dosage gradually and finally stop taking the antidepressants without hampering the body.

Fortunately, there are some classes of antidepressants which can be stopped all of a sudden even without hampering the body and other classes of antidepressants need to reduce the dosage slowly. So, when you start taking antidepressants it is very essential that you take it by consulting with the doctor and preferably tell him to prescribe that class of antidepressants which can be stopped suddenly. There are some people who think that if they start antidepressants they will never be able to stop it at any point or even if they stop taking it, they will experience the symptoms of anxiety for which they need to start taking again. It is true for a lot of patients but it does not mean that the patient has become addicted to antidepressants. Rather, if when the patient experiences the same symptoms of anxiety after taking the antidepressants for some period of time, it means that the antidepressants are working on the patient and his body needs the medicine for few more time.

Conclusion

Thus, it is clear from the above discussion that when a patient stops taking anti-depressants he may experience the same symptoms of anxiety but it is not due to the fact that they have become addicted to antidepressants. It is actually because his body needs antidepressants for some more period of time. At that time, the patient should consult the doctor and make a plan how it can be reduced so that his condition does not get altered.

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Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:October 10, 2019

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