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Zoloft/depression questions

My husband is a doctor. He was diagnosed with mod-severe clinical depression at age 25. He is able to get zoloft and ativan for himself and has for years.  He has no psychiatrist/therapist and refuses one.  He gets angry easily, verbally abuses, has such misperceptions it is amazing.  Communication is soooo difficult.   MY QUESTIONS:

Does Zoloft become less effective over time or are there chemical changes that call for a dosage change?

Do people       -being successfully -     treated exhibit irritability, unreasonable perceptions and anger?

Is impulse control effected?  

Does the brain actually change after years of depression/treatment by any chance.  My husband has taken antidepres. for 25 years.
2 Responses
Avatar universal
My understanding from alot of others is yes 100% medication loses it's effectiveness after long term use..... he should be seeing a thrid party doctor at the very least if not an actual therapist.

I am very sorry your are going through this.... It sounds like a very tough time.

There is a doctor in here that specializes in phychiatrics you should pose the question to him.  But if you look through these forum threads you will find several posts where people's meds and doses have been changed as they lose there effectiveness.

Try to find out why he doesn't want to see anyone?  Let him know he is emotionally hurting you and that you have seen changes in him that are upsetting to you.  

I haven't been on any meds that long so I can't answer the question of it's long term effects on the brain....... but depression does change the way my brain works that's for certain ..... my brain thinks horrid thoughts when I am depressed it's almost like having an arguement with myself inside my head (I know it sounds crazy but it's not really) it's like who you talk to yourself in your head when you are problem solving..... My perceptions of things were fairly off when I was at my worse I thought I was doomed, nothing would ever work for me., nothing would ever go right why even bother.....

Not sure about how  irratable when I was severly depressed  I would need to ask my husband.... I know I was extremely angry at everyone when I stopped taking them and I lashed out and thought some not nice thoughts about people I actually envisioned stabbing a collegue in the eye in a board meeting during a heated arguement..

I really hope your husband goes to see someone.... you can't treat yourself even if you are a doctor....
I also hate to say this but I don't think he should be self medicating at all anyway ....he needs a third party to monitor that.... How can he possibly be objective about his own medication and his own problems

That said though...... other then trying to talk to him about how he is making you feel and that you are worried about it I don't think there is much you can do?  He needs to be the one to get help you can't make him.

Stay in touch, hope things work out for you.... and hopefully someone with somemore long term exprience can help answer
Avatar universal
Zoloft in an SSRI. It is not uncommon for an SSRI antidepressant to lose effectiveness over time. Often, changing antidepressants will reinstate the therapeutic effect.

I'm not sure the reason an antidepressant loses its effectiveness is known since their mechanism of action is also unknown. (The "chemical imbalance" canard is just a hypothesis/marketing slogan).

Increased irritability is often a characteristic of depression.

There is some evidence that some antidepressants stimulate the growth of neurons in the brain. However, I believe that since the natural process of aging over a period of twenty-five years also causes changes to brain tissue that your question is difficult to answer definitively.
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