Given that I’ve been fairly open talking about my own mental issues and dealing with bipolar, I tend to get my share of questions regarding either mental health in general or medications. These are only potentially overwhelmed by the number of questions I get about women’s periods. In any case, a commonly asked question is “Do antidepressants cause weight gain?” and that’s what I am going to address today.
Let me say up front that neuropsychiatry and all of this is not my primary field nor area of expertise and absolutely don’t claim that it is. At the same time, the neurochemistry of eating behavior is a long time interest and there is certainly crossover between the topics which is why I feel comfortable enough writing about this. Anyhow.
So far as the general question of whether or not antidepressants cause weight gain, there’s no singular answer. Different drugs have different relative risks or propensities with some causing weight gain, some causing weight loss and others being relatively neutral.… Keep Reading