Depression victims risking relapse, warn medics
More than half of those suffering from depression stop taking their medicine early heightening risk of a relapse, it was revealed today.
Medics warned people with the mental illness are three times more likely to fall victim to the condition again if they end their treatment too soon.
The majority of sufferers claimed they shunned the drugs because they began feeling better, but others said they made them unwell.
Dr Jogin Thakore, consultant psychiatrist and clinical director at St Vincent’s Hospital, urged patients to see-out their course of treatment.
“Many patients begin to feel better within a few weeks of taking their medicine and sometimes assume that the depression has gone away, but it is recommended that antidepressants are taken for a minimum of between 6-12 months in order to prevent the depression relapsing.
“The risk of depression recurring increases three times if you stop your course of medicine before it is complete.”
Of those who stopped the course of medicine early, 49% said the depression returned while almost a third said they felt worse than before.
The vast majority of those surveyed (79%) said they realised depression could reoccur if treatment was finished too soon.
The research carried out by psychiatric specialists Lundbeck Ireland found:
:: 56% of depression sufferers stopped their course of medicine before it was finished.
:: 49% said their symptoms returned while 29% said they felt worse than before.
:: 38% said they stopped it because they began to feel better and did not need it anymore.
:: Other reasons ranged from forgetting to take the medicine (38%), the drugs controlled them (28%), did not agree with them physically (28%) or mentally (23%).
:: 42% of people who have personal experience of depression know someone who stopped their drugs early.
In Ireland it is estimated that some 400,000 people suffer from depression.
An information booklet -Mind Yourself – Keep on Track – was launched today by Lundbeck giving tips to depression sufferers about taking their medicine correctly.
Dr Thakore added: “We know that people often don’t take their medicines for a variety of reasons.
“They may forget to take them, they might think they no longer need them and many have a very real concern about taking medicines for any period of time.
“While anti-depressants are not needed in every case of depression, if your doctor has put you on a course of anti-depressant treatment, you are giving yourself the best chance of a full recovery by finishing the course.”
