Key result
Antidepressant use predicts increased depressive symptoms, personality dysfunction, and decreased life satisfaction over 8 months.
Why the study?
Although antidepressant medication has small advantages over placebo in trials, it has predicted worsening depressive symptoms in community samples, prompting evaluation of its link to changes in personality and quality of life.
Does antidepressant medication consumption worsen depressive symptoms, personality pathology, and quality of life in community-dwelling adults?
Observational (n=601)
Does antidepressant medication consumption worsen depressive symptoms, personality pathology, and quality of life in community-dwelling adults?
Antidepressant medication use in community-dwelling adults is associated with prospective psychosocial deterioration, including worsening depressive symptoms and quality of life.
May warrant caution with antidepressants in community adults; leaves open causality and requires RCTs before practice change.
BACKGROUND: Although antidepressant medication (ADM) has produced small advantages over pill placebo in randomized controlled trials, consuming ADM has predicted prospectively increasing depressive symptom severity in samples of community-dwelling adults. OBJECTIVE: We extended the community literature by testing ADM's relations to changes in personality and quality of life that may underpin depression. METHOD: In this longitudinal, observational study, community-dwelling adults (N = 601) were assessed twice, 8 months apart on average. Assessments included depressive symptoms, personality, life satisfaction and quality, and prescription medication consumption. RESULTS: Consuming ADM at time 1 predicted relative increases in depressive symptoms (dysphoria), maladaptive traits (negative affect, negative temperament, disinhibition, low conscientiousness), personality dysfunction (non-coping, self-pathology), and decreases in life satisfaction and quality from time 1 to 2, before and after adjustment for age, gender, race, income, education, physical health problems, and use of other psychotropics. In no analysis did ADM use predict better outcomes. CONCLUSION: Among community-dwelling adults, ADM use is a risk factor for psychosocial deterioration in domains including depressive symptoms, personality pathology, and quality of life. Until mechanisms connecting ADM to poor outcomes in community samples are understood, additional caution in use of ADM and consideration of empirically supported non-pharmacologic treatments is prudent.
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Vittengl et al. (2023) conducted an observational in Depressive symptoms (n=601). Antidepressant medication (ADM) consumption vs. No antidepressant medication consumption was evaluated on Changes in depressive symptoms, maladaptive traits, personality dysfunction, and life satisfaction and quality. Antidepressant medication consumption predicted relative increases in depressive symptoms and personality dysfunction, and decreases in life satisfaction over 8 months.
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