In a survey of 1,829 people who had been prescribed anti-depressants, the researchers found large numbers of people - over half in some cases - reporting on psychological problems due to their medication, which has led to growing concerns about the scale of the problem of over-prescription of these drugs.
Psychologist and lead researcher, Professor John Read from the University's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, said: "The medicalisation of sadness and distress has reached bizarre levels. One in ten people in some countries are now prescribed antidepressants each year.
"While the biological side-effects of antidepressants, such as weight gain and nausea, are well documented, the psychological and interpersonal effects have been largely ignored or denied. They appear to be alarmingly common."
Each person completed an online questionnaire which asked about twenty adverse effects. The study was carried out in New Zealand and all of the participants had been on anti-depressants in the last five years. The survey factored in people's levels of depression and asked them to report on how they had felt while taking the medication.
Over half of people aged 18 to 25 in the study reported suicidal feelings and in the total sample there were large percentages of people suffering from 'sexual difficulties' (62%) and 'feeling emotionally numb' (60%). Percentages for other effects included: 'feeling not like myself' (52%), 'reduction in positive feelings' (42%), 'caring less about others' (39%) and 'withdrawal effects' (55%). However, 82% reported that the drugs had helped alleviate their depression.
Professor Read concluded: "While the biological side-effects of antidepressants, such as weight gain and nausea, are well documented, psychological and interpersonal issues have been largely ignored or denied. They appear to be alarmingly common."
"Effects such as feeling emotionally numb and caring less about other people are of major concern. Our study also found that people are not being told about this when prescribed the drugs.
"Our finding that over a third of respondents reported suicidality 'as a result of taking the antidepressants' suggests that earlier studies may have underestimated the problem."
After years of complaining to doctors about my fatigue, inability to get fit, and a whole litany of other minor symptoms (which I have finally self-diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome caused by the doxycycline prescribed to me for Lyme disease), after batteries of useless tests, and after having several doctors suggest taking an anti-depressant (despite my insistence that I was only a little depressed and that only BECAUSE I couldn't work.) I succumbed and agreed to take a two week trial sample of Lexapro.
Exactly one hour and 50 minutes after I swallowed the first pill I was overcome with the most extreme sensation of grief I have ever felt in my life. I was walking through a field carrying feed buckets out to my horses. I stopped, burst into tears, howled, dropped the buckets, howled some more. At the same time I was wishing for - actually looked around for - some implement to attack my own body with to try to stop the emotional pain, I was running through my mind for the reason for the pain. I was expecting to remember some truly awful thing that had just recently happened. I kept sobbing, kept trying to remember what was wrong. Finally, my sobbing subsided to intermittent moans. I had mentally run through all the circumstances of my life, could not recall any new cause for pain. I mentally double checked a few times. I don't know if this episode took 3 minutes or 10 minutes, but the horses were still waiting. I picked up the buckets, fed the horses, finished their morning routine and walked home feeling rather bewildered.
Later that day or the next I thought to wonder if the pill could have been the cause. I continued to take one pill a day for five days. I did not experience the grief again, but I was experiencing somnolence - I couldn't completely wake up for hours longer each day. When I hadn't been able to really wake up on the sixth day in time to take the next pill I decided that I should really stop taking them at all until I could talk to the doctor again. (She canceled the appointment, never called to check up on me or reschedule. AND had never warned my husband that he should have been monitoring my reactions - but that's another story.)
I think that if I hadn't been 57 at the time, or if I could have gotten my hands on some weapon during the worst two minutes of my reaction, the outcome might have been very different.