SSRIs and Depersonalisation

3360 Views 16 Replies 8 Participants Last post by James_80, Mar 1, 2019

Chunky1232

Discussion Starter · Feb 8, 2019

Hi all,

I'm writing cause I'm very curious about SSRI's and depersonalisation. I am curious as I have recently experienced 3 months of moderate to severe depersonalisation due to taking an SSRI (fluoxetine/Prozac). I won't go into to details about the story, but it was a series of mistakes made by doctors failing to listen and understand that got me into that situation. Thankfully since stopping the medication the symptoms have been dissipating over the last month. Obviously, DP was a million times worse than the initial anxiety that was having and was not worth the DP to cure. I am very glad that the DP is going away slowly but this whole experience has left me quite scared of SSRIs. I have used them in the past and they helped to cope with the anxiety and stop it limiting my life. I would like to take an SSRI or some other medication for anxiety, but I never want to go back to that place again (depersonalisation) and not be able to get out. I have read several stories of people on here that claim an SSRI caused their DP and it never went away. So, my question is, is this a reasonable fear?

I can find no scientific literature on SSRI's causing permanent DP and the other medications that cause DP such as Minocyline, the symptoms resolve themselves slowly on cessation of the medication, as in my case. I want to understand what people are experiencing when they claim that the SSRI caused their DP? Is this actually a real thing? SSRIs have been on the market since the 1980s and millions of prescriptions are written each year and there is no published evidence that they are linked to permanent depersonalisation. If anyone who has any insight/personal experience or knows anything I could read that might help me understand this, it would be greatly appreciated. Also if anyone know about other medications causing DP could they please let me know.

Thanks

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eddy1886

· #11 · Feb 20, 2019

Chunky1232 said:
Hi all,

I'm writing cause I'm very curious about SSRI's and depersonalisation. I am curious as I have recently experienced 3 months of moderate to severe depersonalisation due to taking an SSRI (fluoxetine/Prozac). I won't go into to details about the story, but it was a series of mistakes made by doctors failing to listen and understand that got me into that situation. Thankfully since stopping the medication the symptoms have been dissipating over the last month. Obviously, DP was a million times worse than the initial anxiety that was having and was not worth the DP to cure. I am very glad that the DP is going away slowly but this whole experience has left me quite scared of SSRIs. I have used them in the past and they helped to cope with the anxiety and stop it limiting my life. I would like to take an SSRI or some other medication for anxiety, but I never want to go back to that place again (depersonalisation) and not be able to get out. I have read several stories of people on here that claim an SSRI caused their DP and it never went away. So, my question is, is this a reasonable fear?

I can find no scientific literature on SSRI's causing permanent DP and the other medications that cause DP such as Minocyline, the symptoms resolve themselves slowly on cessation of the medication, as in my case. I want to understand what people are experiencing when they claim that the SSRI caused their DP? Is this actually a real thing? SSRIs have been on the market since the 1980s and millions of prescriptions are written each year and there is no published evidence that they are linked to permanent depersonalisation. If anyone who has any insight/personal experience or knows anything I could read that might help me understand this, it would be greatly appreciated. Also if anyone know about other medications causing DP could they please let me know.

Thanks

EVERYBODY reacts differently to different meds....Not just psychiatric meds....I mean the allergy medicine I take works wonders for me in the summer but makes my mother worse and literally knocks her out but yet we both have the same allergies....

Its totally an individual thing....There is no one size fits all with any medication....And everybody will experience different side affects....Alot of people experience no side affects at all......

Take what you read on the internet with a big pinch of salt....while it can be full of factual stuff its also riddled with hear say crap.....The very first thing anybody is going to do when they have a bad experience with something is literally thrash it....But yet when people have good experiences with either meds or say for instance a new coffee machine they rarely want to sit down and rant about it....

Personal experience is priceless in my opinion...And my experience of anti depressants and anti psychotics has been good...Life saving in fact....

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eddy1886

· #12 · Feb 20, 2019

My own personal theory on people developing DP as a result of an SSRI is that maybe they stopped it too quick without proper supervision...When it comes to stopping any psychiatric medicine it needs to be a slow professionally supervised process.....

Just look what happens to addicts when they try to withdraw from illicit drugs cold turkey...Not exactly a nice experience huh ?

(Disclaimer) ....Thats just my own theory though....Dont quote me on this....

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eddy1886

· #16 · Feb 25, 2019

bintuae said:
Not necessarily. DP is one of PAWS (Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome) symptoms. The only difference quitting too quick or too slow makes, is the severity of these symptoms. I don't recommend people to follow pdoc's tapering protocol as it's still too quick of a taper (less than a month).

I totally agree with tapering off very very very slowly small bt by small bit.....Lets face it most doctors are just advising from the pages of a book.......Personal experience will tell an individual how much to reduce a med by and also how often to step down....

You will know when youve moved to fast or reduced the dose too much.....You will feel more ill than you need to be....

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