Build Your Mental Health Toolkit
OCT 02, 2024Think of a mental health toolkit as a collection of strategies you can access whenever you need them. It’s about equipping yourself to handle challenges in a healthy way.
Read MoreFeeling down? Check your prescription labels. More than a third of U.S. adults take medications which list depression and suicide as potential side effects.
That’s the finding of a study from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Researchers looked back at the medications used by more than 26,000 adults between 2005 and 2014 and found that more than 200 commonly used prescription drugs listed depression and/or suicide as potential side effects.
The culprits included painkillers, birth control pills, blood pressure and heart medications and proton pump inhibitors used to treat acid reflux.
If you take more than one medication, pay extra attention. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found the percentage of adults experiencing depression increased with number of medications taken:
There’s two ways to determine if a medication may be causing the depressive symptoms:
Time. If the depression appears within a month of starting or stopping a medication, it may be medication-induced.
Dose response. If increasing or decreasing the medication dose affects symptoms of depression, this indicates a possible relationship.
The takeaway message for anyone who takes medications:
References:
“Prevalence of Prescription Medications With Depression as a Potential Adverse Effect Among Adults in the United States.” Dima Mazen Qato, PharmD, MPH, PhD; Katharine Ozenberger, MS; Mark Olfson, MD, MPH.JAMA. 2018;319(22):2289-2298. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.6741
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2684607
Think of a mental health toolkit as a collection of strategies you can access whenever you need them. It’s about equipping yourself to handle challenges in a healthy way.
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Read MoreWhen you need local health information from a trusted source, turn to the CHI Health Better You eNewsletter.