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Escitalopram, a commonly prescribed antidepressant, reduced people's sensitivity to rewarding experiences successful a tiny trial
Health 23 January 2023By Clare Wilson
The antidepressant escitalopram whitethorn trim people’s sensitivity to enjoying rewarding experiences GIPHOTOSTOCK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
An unwanted flattening of each emotions is 1 of the astir predominant broadside effects of antidepressants – and present we cognize much astir wherefore it tin happen.
The astir commonly utilized types of antidepressant beryllium to a people called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). These are thought to enactment by expanding levels of the encephalon chemic serotonin, although wherefore this tin amended our temper is unclear.
Up to fractional of radical taking antidepressants acquisition an unwanted dampening of some affirmative and antagonistic emotions. “They speech astir not feeling much,” says Barbara Sahakian astatine the University of Cambridge.
Depression itself besides often causes a deficiency of pleasance successful activities a idiosyncratic erstwhile enjoyed. Sahakian and her colleagues truthful investigated an SSRI’s emotion-dampening effect successful radical without the mental health condition.
The researchers gave either a commonly prescribed SSRI called escitalopram oregon placebo pills to 66 radical without depression. After 3 weeks, the participants carried retired a scope of tasks involving memory and learning.
One task measured however good they learned from rewards, with radical having to repeatedly take betwixt 2 stimuli. Through proceedings and error, they mostly learned that 1 stimulus led to a reward much often than the other. Then the probabilities of a reward for each stimulus would power and the participants had to larn this caller system.
The participants who took the antidepressant were 23 per cent little delicate to the stimuli power than those taking the placebo, arsenic measured by however rapidly they changed their stimulus selections. Other tests showed that the medicine didn’t trim their cognitive abilities successful different ways.
The uncovering suggests that SSRIs trim people’s sensitivity to rewards oregon different pleasurable experiences, says Sahakian. But the medicines tin besides blunt the strength of antagonistic feelings, which tin beryllium helpful, she adds.
“I anticipation this doesn’t marque doctors much cautious astir prescribing antidepressants arsenic they’re highly important drugs,” she says. “I anticipation it would marque doctors person a treatment with patients astir imaginable broadside effects.”
“Why antidepressants origin affectional blunting successful a subset of radical is simply a truly important question,” says Catherine Harmer astatine the University of Oxford. “I don’t deliberation this effect explains wherefore radical person this effect, but it whitethorn beryllium a marker of it, which could beryllium utile erstwhile we travel to make caller treatments that don’t person it.”
Harmer says the survey would person been much utile if the participants had besides been asked if they experienced blunted emotions portion taking the antidepressant.
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