Are you addicted to taking antidepressants for a long time? What the article said may reassure you

When they hear that depression needs drug treatment, many people will resist, worrying that antidepressants will be addictive, and dare not insist on taking them. In an online interview with family doctors, doctors said that they believe that antidepressant addiction and dependence are unnecessary worries. After standard and systematic treatment of many depression, at least 50% of patients can be cured and will not suffer from the disease for life.

Are you addicted to taking antidepressants for a long time?

The doctor pointed out that "dependence" generally has two concepts, which are divided into psychological dependence and physical dependence. Psychological dependence refers to the psychological craving, which is manifested as the behavior of seeking the drug in every possible way and desperately in pursuit of the pleasure generated after taking the drug. Physiological dependence includes two levels. On the one hand, it refers to the increase of tolerance, that is, the more you eat, the more you eat, just like drinking. At the beginning of drinking, you may get drunk after drinking a bottle of beer, and as the drinking time increases. Prolonged, the amount of alcohol increased, and by the end, it might take a dozen beers to get drunk. "

Another kind of physical dependence is the withdrawal reaction, which means that after taking the drug for a long time for a period of time, if the drug is suddenly stopped, there will be uncomfortable symptoms.

Doctors stress that with antidepressants, there is neither psychological dependence nor increased tolerance. For some antidepressants, if you suddenly stop taking them for a long time, you will indeed experience physical discomforts similar to withdrawal reactions such as insomnia, palpitation, nausea, and vomiting. However, these discomforts can usually be avoided by slowing down the rate of reduction and withdrawal.

So, antidepressants are not as addictive or dependent as many fear. But one thing needs to be pointed out is that since depression is a chronic disease, most patients need to stick to medication for at least half a year to get complete relief. Among them, about 30% of depression patients may need to take medicine for life to maintain a stable state.

How should depression be treated? Psychotherapy to be used as needed

For the treatment of depression, doctors will also choose other treatment methods according to the specific situation of the patient, such as electroconvulsive therapy, transcranial magnetic therapy, etc. The doctor further elaborated, "Electroconvulsive therapy is like shutting down and restarting a computer when it crashes, allowing brain programs to be redrawn; transcranial magnetic therapy has the property that electromagnetic pulses can penetrate the skull and directly act on brain cells, especially the emotional center. Just like doing SPA to brain cells, it is also a non-invasive and relatively safe treatment."

In addition, psychotherapy is also a popular method used in the treatment of depression nowadays. However, doctors warn everyone that it is not advisable to carry out too much psychological intervention during the acute stage of severe depression, because the patient's brain is disordered at this time and cannot receive too much information. Psychological intervention at this time may increase the mental burden of the patient and aggravate the condition. Therefore, for patients with severe depression, it is recommended to wait until the condition is relieved to a certain extent and the patient is willing to receive psychological treatment before psychological intervention.

In addition, the doctor also revealed that the cost of psychotherapy is relatively expensive, the treatment cycle is long, and short-term psychotherapy takes at least three months, at least once or twice a week, and some are charged by the hour, and the effect of treating depression is not immediate. It is suggested that patients with depression should decide whether they need psychotherapy according to the advice of a psychiatrist, and use it according to actual needs, rather than blindly following the trend.