DO ANTIDEPRESSANTS HAVE ANY MEANINGFUL POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE

A small number of cases in the literature over the past 30 years suggest the possibility of abuse of antidepressant medications. However, this number is minuscule compared with the vast population of individuals who have received antidepressant treatment. Consequently, any possible benefit of routinely warning patients of the possibility that antidepressants might be abusable substances would be more than offset by the negative effect of this warning. It is likely that such a warning would influence patients - who need the short term or maintenance effects of antidepressant medication - to become noncompliant with a therapy that would otherwise be beneficial.