Why antidepressants are not addictive

I recently noticed that a blogger posted his theory on the addictive properties of antidepressants. He pointed out that people get "psychologically addicted" and that using the term "addiction" for physical addiction seemed too restrictive. His supporting evidence is a newspaper article about how Glaxo Smith Kline dropped its claim on a patient information pamphlet for paroxetine saying that the drug was "not addictive".  David Healy is quoted as saying "If there is withdrawal, then there is physical dependence. There will be some people who will never be able to halt this drug, there will be some for whom halting will not be awfully difficult and some for whom it is a real issue". The article goes on to say that although SSRIs are not like opiates they are "more comparable to the benzodiazepines such as diazepam, which is now prescribed only with great caution because of withdrawal problems".

Working in the addiction field this entire line of thinking is rhetorical. There is significant psychiatric comorbidity in people with addictions with anywhere from 40-75% having co-occurring disorders. Most of those co-occurring disorders are anxiety disorders and depression and they are well known triggers for relapse as well as initiating drug and alcohol use in the first place. Contrary to public denial,  addictive disorders have huge liabilities in terms of morbidity and they are often lethal illnesses.  My goal is to reduce the risk of relapse by treating the co-occurring disorder while the person is being treated for addiction. SSRI medications are one of the mainstays of treating anxiety and depression these days. They are effective medications. I would not be prescribing them if they caused "psychological addiction". Furthermore, many treatment programs for addiction teach the concept of cross addiction and nobody studying that concept would want to take an SSRI if it caused any kind of addiction.

A better starting point would be to look at more comprehensive definition of what an addiction is. That starting point would be the October 2011 definition issued by the American Society of Addiction Medicine.  Paragraph 2 of the short definition will suffice and reading those four lines should make it very clear that the use of antidepressant medications does not lead to addiction. The real hallmark of addictions is uncontrolled use and there is no evidence that modern antidepressants are used in an uncontrolled manner.  Additional evidence is that antidepressants have absolutely no street value and therefore are in the majority of 34 million chemical compounds listed in Chem Abstracts of which only about 322 are addicting.

If your doctor has recommended that you take an antidepressant medication certainly be aware of the fact that there may be discontinuation symptoms. Discontinuation symptoms are not an addiction.  Needing to take an antidepressant for a chronic mood or anxiety disorder is not an addiction.  Contrary to Dr. Healy's opinion there are a number of nonpsychiatric medications can be discontinued and cause severe discontinuation symptoms.  The term "physical dependence" suggests an addiction or the inappropriate use of a potentially addicting drug where in fact that is not the case with antidepressants.  Comparing antidepressants to other clearly addictive compounds like benzodiazepines or opioids is not an accurate comparison across any dimension.  I agree that any person considering an antidepressant drug needs to be aware of the fact that mild to moderate symptoms can respond to psychotherapy as well as medication.  ANY medication can lead to rare but very serious complications.  Any person considering treatment with medications needs to be working with a physician who is skilled in the use of these medications and who can address any potential side effects.  My personal experience in treating people who have severe anxiety and depression is that they reach a point that anyone with a severe chronic illness reaches in making a decision about medication. That point generally involves asking themselves: "What else am I going to do?".

As physicians we can never minimize the importance of that question.