[drugawareness] Divorce Chemically Induced by SSRIs & SNRIs

[Guest guest]

They could equally be called crazy making pills, school student shooter pills,

disgruntled employee goes crazy pills, suicide inducing pills or a bunch of

other things also. F.

 

 

atracyphd2

Mon, 24 May 2004 15:32:03 EDT

[drugawareness] Divorce Chemically Induced by SSRIs & SNRIs

 

Well, you have heard me call them the " divorce pills " for well over a decade,

and now the scientific research is in. For all those of you who have been

waiting for this information to come out, here it is straight from the annual

meeting of the American Psychiatric Association as reported in the New York

Times.

 

I have always said that the number of deaths due to these drugs is a horrible

tragedy, but the number of broken families is far, far greater. For years

husbands and wives have contacted me about this extremely negative and life

changing aspect of these serotonergic drugs. I contacted Dr. Laura and Dr.

Dobson

with Focus on the Family in hope that this information could help them in

dealing with these families with marriages in trouble as a result of these

drugs.

Obviously the information fell on deaf ears. What a shame considering how many

families could have been saved.

 

Now, after years of families being guinea pigs for these drugs, comes the

scientific research to show how the drugs actually produce the destruction of

relationships that have survived years of many other traumas. The article

discusses how they have found a sudden loss in feelings for a mate when using

these

drugs in marriages over 40 years old - marriages that have survived years of

many other traumas.

 

Thankfully this information is finally out, but what a shame that so many

relationships have been terminated as a result of these drugs. How well I recall

one particular call that came in to me in the early 90's. The woman related

how much she regretted that she had decided to divorce while on Prozac, but said

that it was too late to do anything about it now because her husband had

remarried and gone on with his life while she was still " strung out " on Prozac.

Since then that call has come in repeatedly over the years with only the names

of the individuals and the names of the drugs changed.

 

Now that we have the science behind this phenomena will patients get the

warning they diserve or will it ever end? Let's hope this will help save some

families from what too many others have had to suffer.

 

By the way, if any of you in the San Francisco Bay area have gone through

this SSRI-induced type of divorce, please contact me ASAP at this e-mail

address.

 

Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D.

Executive Director, International Coalition For Drug Awareness

Author: Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare

& audio tape on safe withdrawal: " Help! I Can't Get

Off My Antidepressant! " (800-280-0730)

 

Website: www.drugawareness.org

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/04/health/psychology/04PSYC.html?ex=1084682345 &

ei=1 & en=492157cfddd0d01d

 

Has the Romance Gone? Was It the Drug?

 

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

 

Published: May 4, 2004

 

 

For most people taking antidepressants, the risk of a diminished sex drive

may seem like a worthwhile sacrifice for the benefits from the drugs.

 

Up to 70 percent of patients on antidepressants report sexual side effects,

yet the number of Americans who take the drugs has ballooned since Prozac was

introduced in the late 1980's. Last year, studies show, doctors in the United

States wrote 213 million prescriptions for antidepressants.

 

But what if the sexual side effects of the drugs, often considered little

more than a nuisance, had more serious consequences, impairing not only sexual

desire in some people, but also the ability to experience romance? The question,

which experts are beginning to ask, was at the center of a talk this weekend

at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in New York. Dr.

Helen E. Fisher, an anthropologist at Rutgers, presented findings that

suggest, she says, that common antidepressants that tinker with serotonin levels

in

the brain can also disrupt neural circuits involved in romance and attachment.

 

" We know that there are real sexual problems associated with

serotonin-enhancing medications, " said Dr. Fisher, author of " Why We Love: The

Nature and

Chemistry of Romantic Love " (2004). " But when you cripple a person's sexual

desire

and arousal, you're also jeopardizing their ability to fall in love and to

stay in love. "

 

Dr. Fisher and a colleague, Dr. Anderson J. Thomson Jr., have studied the

brains of people in love and pored over research from the last 25 years on the

neurological basis of romance. Three brain systems, all interrelated, the

researchers say, control lust, attraction and attachment. Each runs on a

different

set of chemicals. Lust is fueled by androgens and estrogens. Attachment is

controlled by oxytocin and vasopressin. And attraction, they say, is driven by

high levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, as well as low levels of serotonin.

As a result, they say, increasing levels of serotonin with antidepressants can

cripple the sex drive but also set off an imbalance among the three systems.

 

Drs. Fisher and Thomson are submitting a scientific paper on the subject for

publication this year.

 

" There are two lines of evidence on this, " Dr. Thomson, a psychiatrist at the

University of Virginia, said. " The first is the well-documented frequency of

sexual side effects. But when you actually talk to patients who have

diminished libido and you ask how it affects them, you discover that it has an

enormous

impact on their romantic lives. "

 

Often, the change is subtle. Drs. Fisher and Thomson point to case studies of

people who gradually find their emotions blunted and their ability to see

attractive features in others lost. The researchers also point to more extreme

cases like people who say losing their sex drives caused romantic feelings

toward longtime spouses to evaporate suddenly.

 

" Everyone is distinctly different, " Dr. Fisher said. " Some people are so

securely attached that this isn't going to change things for them. But people

should be aware that these drugs dull the emotions, including the positive ones

that are central components of romantic love. "