Posted by bleauberry on March 9, 2010, at 15:55:54
In reply to SSRI-induced Apathy - short OR long term use?, posted by vic80 on March 9, 2010, at 3:53:16
If everyone who has experienced ssri induced apathy were to try to describe it, it would be described exactly as you said.
For years on ssris, my doctor would give me the depression questionaire survey to monitor how I was doing. I always scored extremely well on all the topics except for the one about enjoyment of activities and hobbies. On that I always scored the worst possible. I was not at all depressed, quite functional, high achiever at work, all that, but had absolutely no enjoyment of anything. My emotions were basically flatlined.
Depression emotions were gone, but all excitement emotions were also gone.
This began, for me, within 2 weeks of starting an ssri and only got worse with time. For other people it could start immediately, or it might creep in over a period of weeks. In some cases people feel fine for a few months, and then months later realize how flat they have become. So it varies from person to person.
All the ssris did this to me. Probably the least offensive was prozac, but there was still considerable apathy with it. Just not quite as bad as all the others. Zoloft might have been a little bit less mind numbing as well. Paxil and lexapro were the worst for me.
I did not experience the apathy syndrome with nortriptyline or amisulpride or ritalin. Odd, but wellbutrin gave me horrible apathy as well as worsened depression. That is not its overall reputation, but with these meds anything can and does happen.
> Do ssri side effects like apathy/anhedonia develop over a short time or a long time use.
>
> (in question escitalopram 10mg upped to 15 mg recently)
>
> (By short time I would mean 8 weeks...)
>
> Would a lack of initiative, indifference, inability to feel surprised/moved, lack of motivation, inability to feel moved by remembering past events, inability to look ahead to the future, inability to feel inspired and blank thoughts (especially blank thoughts) qualify as "apathy". (no dysphoric/depressed moods anymore).
> Or would this be simply residual depression?
poster:bleauberry
thread:938982
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100305/msgs/939008.html