Direct effects
psychic anxiety, depressed mood
At almost all assessments, the strongest direct beneficial effects of SSRIs were found for the two affective symptoms, i.e., depressed mood (e.g., edge weight = −0.17 at week 6) and psychic anxiety (e.g., edge weight = −0.11 at week 6). The effect on depressed mood was already substantial at week 1 (i.e., edge weight = −0.09) and the effect on psychic anxiety at week 2 (edge weight = −0.09), and both became stronger in the following weeks. Other direct beneficial effects were much weaker at all assessment (i.e., edge weights ≥ −0.05 for all symptoms at all assessments).Interestingly, we also found some detrimental effects of active treatment. The detrimental effect of SSRIs on genital problems gradually increased over time, with an edge weight of 0.02 at week 1 and of 0.11 at week 6. The direct aggravating effect of SSRIs on loss of weight was initially high (i.e., edge weight of 0.16 at week 1) and decreased over time (i.e., edge weight of 0.03 at week 6). Other direct detrimental effects were much weaker (i.e., edge weights ≤ 0.06 for all other symptoms at all assessments).