Antidepressants linked to major personality changes
A study finds steep drops in neuroticism and increases in extroversion among patients taking Paxil. Such traits had been believed to shift very little over a lifetime.
By Melissa Healy
LA Times
December 8, 2009
Antidepressant medications taken by roughly 7% of American adults cause profound personality changes in many patients with depression, far beyond simply lifting the veil of sadness, a study has found.
Researchers saw strong drops in neuroticism and increases in extroversion in patients taking antidepressants, two of five traits thought to define personality and shape a person's day-to-day thoughts and behavior. The findings are striking, researchers said, because psychologists have long thought that such fundamental traits are moorings of an adult's personality that shift very little over a lifetime.
The medications would seem to relieve depression by chemically altering brain processes that spawn negative thoughts rather than just alleviating symptoms associated with a depressed state, said Northwestern University psychologist Tony Z. Tang, the lead author of the study.
The findings, published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, could have significant implications for depression treatment, researchers not connected with the study said.
(More here.)
By Melissa Healy
LA Times
December 8, 2009
Antidepressant medications taken by roughly 7% of American adults cause profound personality changes in many patients with depression, far beyond simply lifting the veil of sadness, a study has found.
Researchers saw strong drops in neuroticism and increases in extroversion in patients taking antidepressants, two of five traits thought to define personality and shape a person's day-to-day thoughts and behavior. The findings are striking, researchers said, because psychologists have long thought that such fundamental traits are moorings of an adult's personality that shift very little over a lifetime.
The medications would seem to relieve depression by chemically altering brain processes that spawn negative thoughts rather than just alleviating symptoms associated with a depressed state, said Northwestern University psychologist Tony Z. Tang, the lead author of the study.
The findings, published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, could have significant implications for depression treatment, researchers not connected with the study said.
(More here.)
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