Although antidepressants may not work very well (if at all) to curb depression, this doesn’t stop them from having an effect on those who use them. They are still a powerful drug that comes with very real side effects.

Extremely common side effects (experienced by 10% of people or more)

• Nausea
• Headache
• Diarrhea
• Rhinitis
• Sexual dysfunction (link)
• Restlessness
• Abdominal pain
• Sleep disturbances/insomnia

(Dopheide, 2006; Wagner et al., 2004)

Other common side effects

• Agitation
• Palpitations
• Sedation or lethargy
• Fidgeting

Rarer side effects

• Dystonia
• Pseudoparksonism
• Tardive dyskinesia

“As a class, all SSRIs have a similar adverse-effect profile,” states Julie Dopheide, so they’re all going to have similar side effects. (Dopheide, 2006, p. 241) SSRIs can also cause hair thinning, and because they frequently cause sleeplessness, Ambien is commonly prescribed alongside an antidepressant. (Millea, 2016) Which means drug companies get a two-for-zero: They sell you a drug that probably won’t work, and then get to turn around and make more money when the doctor prescribes you a drug to treat the side effects of the first prescription.

The blunting of emotions

Another typical consequence of taking antidepressants is that they blunt your emotional responses. As Dr. Andrew Weil states, “People who take Prozac and its relatives often say they simply feel everything less intensely, including their depression.” (Weil, 1995, p. 202) While this isn’t technically a side effect since you’re dealing with a mood altering drug, it certainly is for practical purposes.

Anthropologist Helen Fisher adds that “These drugs make a lot of money for the medical profession, and they do have miraculous results for some people with major depression who can’t get out of bed. But they’re not so good long-term for the rest of us.” After taking these drugs for too long, “you stop caring when your dog dies and you don’t fall in love.” (Weil, 2013) Life is drained of its flavor.

Behavioral changes from antidepressant use

Antidepressants can raise the risk of a person developing antidepressant induced manic conversion–an outcome that is more likely among children than adults. (Martin et al., 2004; Kowatch et al., 2005) This means that the drugs may trigger a child into the more severe manic-depressive state. One study of people ages 5 to 29 found that prepubertal or peripubertal children ages 10 to 14 had twice the risk of manic conversion, at approximately 10%. (Martin et al., 2004) Another study documented that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, pediatric psychiatry clinics reported the rate of antidepressant-induced behavioral activation, hypomania, or mania was anywhere from 20% to 50%. (Leonard et al., 1997)

More recently, studies have turned up an increased risk for aggression. Although no black box warnings exist yet for aggression, a January 2016 study in BMJ suggested that the risk of increased aggression in children and teens is as prevalent as the threat for increased suicide. “This is obviously important in the debate about school shootings in the (U.S.) and in other places where the perpetrators are frequently taking antidepressants,” says psychiatrist Joanna Moncrieff. (Kwon, 2016)

Additional side effects in children

Children suffer from all the same side effects described above, but in addition to this, an “increased bleeding has been reported in children age 8-15 years who developed bruising or epistaxis one week to three months after starting SSRI treatment.” (Dopheide, 2006, p. 241)

The effects consequences of SSRI withdrawal

Not only do SSRIs cause side effects when people go on them, but they can cause severe withdrawal symptoms when people come off them. Whenever you chemically alter your body, your body makes adjustments–in this case by reducing sensitivity to serotonin overall. “After a patient quits or lowers the dose of an SSRI,” says Cat Bohannon, Ph.D., “neurons can quickly scoop up the free-floating molecule, causing serotonin levels to drop even while the nervous system might still be less sensitive to serotonin–a double whammy.” (Bohannon, 2014, p. 54) Since serotonin is important for many bodily processes (not just mood) this can throw a person’s entire system out of whack.

It has been known for some time that going off these drugs can cause negative side effects, including problems with mood, dizziness, headaches, digestion and sexuality. In 1996 the Eli Lilly company–flush with recent Prozac money–held a symposium on these issues. One study found that up to 80 percent of patients suffered from withdrawal symptoms, although after the symposium these were relabeled as “discontinuation syndrome.” (ibid) It’s such a common and potentially serious problem that the American Psychological Association recently added it as an official diagnosis in the DSM-5. So now not only do you have the disorder of depression, but you have the disorder caused by the pharmaceutical treatment of this disorder.

Such facts are extremely concerning in light of the science on antidepressants, most of which shows little to no benefit for patients, and NONE that suggests any long-term benefit. (Even the potential boost to those severely depressed, the last holdout that drug companies are clinging to, disappears when you look at outcomes of 1 year or more.) This is a lot of suffering and a lot of problems for a drug that only offers a teeny-tiny short-term benefit at most.