Medication for Depression or Anxiety

If you have been prescribed medication for depression or anxiety, it is important to know it can take a good four to six weeks before you truly feel the benefit.

Unlike a Tylenol for a headache which usually reaches therapeutic level in about 20 minutes, medications for depression and anxiety literally takes weeks.

If there are side affects, the most common being headache, nausea, upset stomach, sleep disturbance, most subside in two to three weeks.

Often the person taking the meds doesn’t see the effect as soon as those living with the person.

Those living with you may start to see an improvement in mood in three to four weeks. The one taking the medication may be surprised by their noticing and a week or two later are likely able to see it in themselves.

Those who discontinue medication after a few weeks tend to do so because they may have had those side effects and didn’t experience the benefit yet. That gives the sense the medication isn’t working for them, when the real issue is that they didn’t continue long enough.

When starting these medications, it’s good practice to meet with the prescribing physician every three to four weeks for a good three to four months.

These meetings are for the doctor to review your response to the medication and assess for the impact and support of side effects.

This general class of medication for depression and/or anxiety is called SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors).

There is another class of medication for anxiety that would be used on an as-need basis and are generally prescribed for acute anxiety and for short duration.

They are typically of the benzodiazepine family.

Benzodiazepines do tend to be fast acting and are for episodic control of an acute anxiety attack. These are different from what is described above for SSRIs.

As for the SSRIs, if one wants to stop this medication, it is important to do so under medical guidance and supervision.

Stopping these medications cold turkey can cause an adverse psychological reaction. As such, these are typically discontinued slowly over time.

These medications help most people. However, those who are helped are less likely to talk about and post about their positive experience.

Those far fewer folks who do have more considerable negative side effects are more prone to speak up about their experience.

This can leave a skewed and scary impression on those who might benefit and otherwise like to consider or try this form of treatment.

Because of that, please resist commenting about adverse experiences to this post. Please allow those who may benefit to speak with their doctor to see if this class of medication may be of benefit to them.

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I am Gary Direnfeld and I am a social worker. Check out all my services and then call me if you need help with a personal issue, mental health concern, child behavior or relationship, divorce or separation issue or even help growing your practice. I am available in person and by video conferencing.

Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW

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Gary Direnfeld is a social worker. Courts in Ontario, Canada, consider him an expert in social work, marital and family therapy, child development, parent-child relations and custody and access matters. Gary is the host of the TV reality show, Newlywed, Nearly Dead, former parenting columnist for the Hamilton Spectator and author of Marriage Rescue: Overcoming the ten deadly sins in failing relationships. Gary maintains a private practice in Georgina Ontario, providing a range of services for people in distress. He speaks at conferences and workshops throughout North America. He consults to mental health professionals as well as to mediators and collaborative law professionals about good practice as well as building their practice.