At the beginning of taking antidepressants, many people may feel even worse than before. This makes one wonder if they are working or not and if it would be necessary to use another type of antidepressant. For this reason, many people usually contact their psychiatrist in the first days and weeks, explaining that their antidepressants are not having an effect. Sometimes, many people even stop treatment suddenly without consulting a psychiatrist and this can be very harmful.
In the Psychology-Online article, we will explain if taking antidepressants and feeling worse is normal or not, how antidepressants work in the first days, when they start to take effect and we will also see how to know if they are working.
How do antidepressants work?
There are different types of antidepressants and, depending on this, they act in one way or another. However, we could understand, at a general level, its functioning as the facilitation or not of the presence of certain substances in the communication between neurons. That is, antidepressants allow, for example, that is transmitted from a greater amount of serotonin (commonly known as the happiness hormone) transmitted between neurons and, therefore, we feel happier. They manage to do this because they prevent the first neuron from “stealing” serotonin at the moment in which it is traveling to the next neuron and thus, they ensure that more serotonin reaches the second neuron. In this article we explain the.
Likewise, they act in an equivalent way with something other than serotonin, such as norepinephrine. In the case of MAO, a type of amine, the opposite would occur and the antidepressant would ensure that there was less of it.
Effects of antidepressants in the first days
Depending on the person, the effects of antidepressants in the first few days may vary. However, on a general level, side effects are noticed sooner than primary ones. This occurs because serotonin influences many other functions in our body, in addition to happiness, such as appetite or sexual desire, sleep cycles, the digestive system… This is why a sudden change in the amount of serotonin transported can increase these problems until our body adapts to said change. On the other hand, for this same reason, it is common to feel worse on those days, since the mix between demotivation seeing that the change is not immediate and that physically we feel worse Because our brain is “lost” because it is not used to these new levels, the primary effect of feeling happier takes a few days or even several weeks.
In some people the effect seems to be immediate, at least during the first few days. This occurs because a placebo effect begins. The person, feeling that they are receiving help and finding a solution to the problem, feels much better. If the effect of the antidepressant takes time to take effect, this placebo effect may disappear, leading to a “relapse” until, finally, the antidepressant begins to show its real effectiveness. In this article you will find more information about .
For all this, Yes, it is normal that you feel worse when taking antidepressants, during the first weeks. It may be normal even during the first 6 weeks.
How do I know if antidepressants are working for me?
Taking into account what happened in the first weeks, it is important that we look at the evolution of how we feel physically and mentally before taking them, in the first weeks that we take them and in the following weeks once the body has adapted.
To know if they are having an effect on us, we will therefore have to wait until some time has passed after constant intake and having strictly followed the doctor’s guidelines.
Once we have made sure of this, what we feel is a increased energy and vitality. You will regain the desire to do things and you will find the strength to do so. Additionally, you will have a more positive attitude so your attention will not focus on problems or the negative side of situations, but rather you will better appreciate the positive things in your daily life.
Another aspect that you may feel after the medication takes effect is your ability to solve problems. Linked to the above, seeing everything with greater positivity implies that you have increased your breadth of vision and that where before you only saw a long and eternal problem with no solution – what is known as tunnel vision – you will be able to begin to see different escape routes or solutions to the problem. day-to-day conflicts.
All of this will have an effect on your self-esteem since, in the same way that you see situations with a more positive outlook, the same will happen with your virtues and defects, whereby the former will begin to gain prominence and the latter will cease to be as important or will even cease to be defects.
All of this should happen after at most 6 weeks. If not, we recommend this article in which we explain.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Nassan, M., Nicholson, W.T., Elliott, M.A., Vitek, C.R.R., Black, J.L., & Frye, M.A. (2016, July). Pharmacokinetic pharmacogenetic prescribing guidelines for antidepressants: a template for psychiatric precision medicine. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 91, No. 7, pp. 897-907). Elsevier.