Beware of anti-depressants

Anti-depressants can devestate a marriage. There are different types of anti-depressants. I strongly encourage anyone who's spouse is thinking about taking one to do some research first. The particular kind I will talk about are called SSRI’s or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Some of the drugs in this family are Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, and Effexor. SSRI's increase a persons serotonin level, and this can cause all sorts of problems. Serotonin is a chemical that the brain produces, and the more the brain produces the happier a person feels.

While elevated serotonin levels make a person feel good it can cause imbalances of other chemicals in the brain. It reduces dopamine levels and oxytocin levels. Dopamine helps give you the excited in love feeling. This happens mostly during the infatuation stage of a relationship. Oxytocin is a hormone the brain produces in both men and women when they make love and in women when the breast feed their babies. Oxytocin is a hormone that helps people bond or form emotional attachments.

SSRI’s affect oxytocin levels in two ways. First is by reducing the brains ability to produce it. The second way is because SSRI’s also reduce libido. Remember oxytocin is produced in the brain during love making. If a person using an SSRI isn’t making love their brain isn’t producing oxytocin and they aren’t able to bond. Further more when they do make love their brain isn’t producing very much oxytocin with which to bond. It can also cause a lack of bonding with ones children while breastfeeding and can cause frustration for the mother.

To conclude SSRI’s can make it difficult to have and maintain any emotional attachments, and can even erode existing attachments by changing the chemical balance in the brain. Sadly it is very hard to reason with someone on this type of drug, and so it is hard to get them off of it. They of cours feel the drug is helping them immensely because they feel good(because of the higher serotonin levels of course). I found the following on a website that almost sums it up for me: "I know of one couple on the edge of divorce. The wife was on an antidepressant. Then she went off it, started having orgasms once more, felt the renewal of sexual attraction for her husband, and they're now in love all over again."


Attached are a few links that offer more detail and corroborate what I have been talking about.

http://intl-tfj.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/15/4/392

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-20070403-000003&page=1

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/78254/Exclusive_Can_Antidepressants_Kill_Love_

In the next link pay close attention to the comments after the story, as they are from people who have used or whose loved ones have used these drugs.

http://depression.about.com/b/2008/04/29/can-ssris-make-you-fall-out-of-love.htm

The next link is to a forum specifically with peoples stories about how their marriages were destroyed by these horrible drugs.

http://www.topix.com/forum/drug/effexor/TQ4I2UR28DFD3N759