TY - JOUR
T1 - Associations of antidepressant medication consumption with changes in personality pathology and quality of life among community-dwelling adults
AU - Vittengl, Jeffrey R.
AU - Jarrett, Robin B.
AU - Ro, Eunyoe
AU - Clark, Lee Anna
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 - IOS Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024/2/28
Y1 - 2024/2/28
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Antidepressant medications
KW - community
KW - personality
KW - quality of life
KW - risk
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U2 - 10.3233/JRS-230016
DO - 10.3233/JRS-230016
M3 - Article
C2 - 37718854
AN - SCOPUS:85178315541
SN - 0924-6479
VL - 35
SP - 5
EP - 18
JO - International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine
JF - International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine
IS - 1
ER -