Can antidepressants be addictive if taken for a long time? What the article said may reassure you

When they hear that depression needs drug treatment, many people will resist it, worrying that antidepressant drugs will be addictive, and dare not insist on taking them. In an online interview with family doctors, the doctor said that it is unnecessary to worry about the addiction and dependence of antidepressants. After standard and systematic treatment for many depressions, at least 50% of the patients can be cured and will not be sick for life.

Can antidepressants be addictive if taken 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 psychological craving, which is manifested as the behavior of seeking the drug by all means and desperately in order to pursue the pleasure produced after taking the drug. Physiological dependence includes two levels. On the one hand, it refers to the increase in tolerance, that is, the more you eat, the more you eat, just like drinking. When you first drink, you may be drunk after drinking a bottle of beer. Prolonged, the amount of alcohol gradually increased, and in the end, it may take a dozen beers to get drunk. "

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

Doctors emphasize that neither psychological dependence nor increased tolerance occurs with antidepressants. For some antidepressants, if the drug is stopped suddenly after long-term use, insomnia, palpitation, nausea, vomiting and other physical discomfort similar to withdrawal reactions will indeed occur. But these discomforts can usually be avoided by slowing down and stopping the drug.

So, antidepressants are not as addictive or dependent as many fear. But one thing that needs to be pointed out is that since depression is a chronic disease, most patients need to insist on taking medicine for at least half a year before they can get complete relief. Among them, about 30% of patients with depression may need to take medicine for life in order to maintain a stable condition.

How should depression be treated? Psychotherapy should be used on an as-needed basis

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 explained, "Electric shock therapy is like shutting down and restarting the computer when it crashes, allowing the brain program to be reorganized; transcranial magnetic therapy can directly act on brain cells, especially the emotional center, through the characteristics of electromagnetic pulses that can penetrate the skull. Just like doing SPA for 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, the doctor warns everyone that it is not advisable to carry out too much psychological intervention during the acute stage of severe depression, because at this time the patient's brain is in disorder and cannot accept 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 has been alleviated 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, and the treatment cycle is long. Short-term psychotherapy takes at least three months, at least 1-2 times a week, and some are charged by the hour. The effect of treating depression is not immediate. It is recommended that patients with depression should decide whether they need psychotherapy based on the advice of a psychiatrist, and use it according to actual needs, rather than blindly following the trend.