Antidepressants, such as Prozac and Zoloft, are among the nation’s most prescribed drugs, and some users have been on them since they were children. Which, for some patients and doctors, brings up an interesting and disturbing issue: Has the long-term use of such drugs fundamentally changed the personalities of the users?
“Julie,” now 31, has been taking antidepressants almost continually for 17 years—since she was 14. “I’ve grown up on medication,” she told her doctor. “I don’t have a sense of who I really am without it.”
Truth is, doctors don’t really have a great idea of what the long-term affects of these drugs are. Most clinical trials last four to 12 weeks before the drugs are approved, despite the fact many patients will use them for the rest of their lives.
“The drugs save lives, and we often have no choice but to use them—even if we have questions about their long-term use,” writes Dr. Richard A. Friedman. “The questions are big ones, and we owe it to our patients to try to answer them.” (New York Times)
