Tardive Dysphoria: can antidepressants cause depression?

TL;DR

This paper explores whether long-term use of antidepressants can worsen depression, a phenomenon called tardive dysphoria.

Contribution

The paper reviews literature to clarify the concept, causes, and clinical implications of tardive dysphoria.

Findings

Tardive dysphoria is controversial and may not be a distinct clinical entity.

There is a need for further research due to its implications for antidepressant treatment.

The phenomenon may relate to treatment-resistant depression or antidepressant tachyphylaxis.

Abstract

tardive dysphoria is a relatively new term used to describe the phenomenon of clinical worsening of depression after long-term antidepressant use. Most of the theories proposed to explain this talk about antidepressants tachyphylaxis that implies the loss of efficacy with its prolonged use, or even a pro-depressant effect of antidepressants when used for long periods of time.

to explore the concept of tardive dysphoria, potential causes and clinical implications, by making a literature review on the topic. Moreover we pretend to understand the challenges in its diagnosis and treatment.

bibliographical search in PubMed database, using the key-words “long-term antidepressant”, “tardive dysphoria” and “antidepressant tachyphylaxis”, limited to works published in the last twenty years.

from our search resulted 53 articles, 26 were chosen for further analysis.

the concept of tardive dysphoria is controversial, namely doubt persists if it constitutes a clinical entity by itself caused by long-term antidepressant use or if it simply relates to cases of treatment-resistant depression. We conclude that it is necessary further investigation in this area given the significant implications on clinical practice specifically in the psychopharmacological treatment with antidepressants, which is very common in psychiatric and general practices, with antidepressants being used to treat many mental health conditions.

None Declared