Do Antidepressants Kill The Ability To Love?
4 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // July 29th, 2007 // 10:48 pm
That’s the theory laid on the table by a pair of academics - Helen Fisher, an evolutionary anthropologist at Rutgers University and psychiatrist J. Anderson Thomson of the University of Virginia - who believe that such pills as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil, among others, can alter your brain chemistry and blunt the intense feelings evoked by a new love, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Fisher and Thomson, who describe their theory in a chapter in the book, “Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience,” aren’t talking just about the notorious ability of these drugs to dampen sexual desire and performance, although that, they believe, plays its part, the paper writes. They think the drugs also sap the craving for a mate, and maybe even the brain’s very ability to fall in love.
SSRIs are also known to curb obsessive thinking, the kind of focused state that is central to the first blush of romance. So far, though, the Times notes there’s no evidence a dulling of romantic interest is a universal side effect. And when it does appear in people who need the drugs to live and function, doses might be adjusted, or medications changed, Fisher tells the Times.
But any drug that has sexual side effects, Thomson says, could well blunt other chemicals the brain uses to intently focus on one person or to work up the obsession necessary to fall in love in the first place. “If you’re having sexual side effects, ask if everything is being done to mitigate them, because those responses might also be linked to unconscious romantic desires. And ask yourself, ‘How is this affecting my relationships?’ ”
Anonymous
I realize that for some, SSRIs or SNRIs may have sexual/”feelings” side effects. For me, it’s the opposite. Being liberated from the obsession of self-hatred, and dark thoughts about life in general, I can now feel more normally toward others, including my spouse. Count me as one voice who has had ZERO negative side effects, and only positive results, from an antidepressant!
Lisa Van Syckel
Anonymous,
You are one of the lucky ones……
Eric Centers
YEs you are lucky. I have been with the same woman for seven years & had a great relatianship, she was the best thing that ever happened to me since the baby was born she has been a antidepressants and is a totally different person. She has no love or feelings what so ever. It has caused me to lose the most important person in my life and lose the time with my son that he & I deserve. I don’t recommend anyone to take antidepepressants.
dallas
Yes I too feel like I may have had ssri’s wreck my marrage. after 10 years of a wonderful relationship and three years of marrage my wife started taking effexor. Out of the blue she no longer has the desire to stay with me and says she does not love me anymore. Now we have some common issues with our marrage but I am totaly willing to work on them with her, but she is just cold as ice. I can’t help but hang on no matter how painful this is because I just know in my heart that the pills are causing her to think and feel in a different way. this sucks.