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Reducing and stopping medication doses can temporarily bring negative symptoms as the body withdraws from the meds. “Typically, we’re recommending after six months to a year of feeling good and stable before we start talking about going off ,” Washington said. While many who started taking antidepressants during the pandemic are still on them, some with improved symptoms are trying to wean themselves off the medication, Washington said. Doctors can create treatment plans to slowly increase or decrease doses to help minimize any negative symptoms, along with prescribing other medications to assist. It’s essential for those taking antidepressants to talk to their doctor about possible side effects, so they understand what they could face and for how long. I don’t have the same sadness that overcomes me at night.” “At the beginning, I had them almost every other night, but one and a half years later, I only have one very occasionally, about as often as I had nightmares before starting antidepressants,” Roseman said. While ultimately Roseman said he sleeps much better now than before, initially, he had vivid dreams when he started taking the drug. “But my mood worsened when I saw how selfish people could be in the face of a potentially deadly virus.” “I had been feeling down for a while before anyone had ever contracted COVID-19,” Roseman said. He started using the medication when he noticed his mood was bleak for about three months. However, the study concluded, “In the long term, all antidepressants which show clinical efficacy improve sleep secondary to improvement of mood and daytime activity.” This means if an antidepressant is working for someone, they should see positive effects on their sleep health when the meds fully kick in.Ī year and a half ago, Seth Roseman, a 29-year-old graduate student from Pennsylvania, started taking Lexapro – an antidepressant used to treat anxiety.

The effects of an antidepressant on sleep depend on the dosage, type, and length of time.Ī sleep disorders study found that antidepressants may disrupt sleep when first getting on them – causing either insomnia or drowsiness. Research shows that some antidepressants with activating effects could end up disrupting sleep. “Add in things like the attack on the Capitol, the lack of a peaceful transition of power, and social justice unrest coupled with people having fewer distractions, and it does become a perfect storm.” Antidepressants And Sleep “This was in response to things like quarantine, uncertainty, financial issues, and watching hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans die,” Howard said. Gabe Howard, author, and host of Inside Mental Health: A Psych Central Podcast said many of the pandemic’s repercussions contributed to depression symptoms. We just kind of saw everything come to a halt. “Say there’s somebody who used to recharge by going out and being social and going to the gym, organized activity.

“The pandemic took away a lot of people’s coping skills,” Washington said. Nicole Bernard Washington, a board-certified psychiatrist.

Many who had feelings of depression and anxiety lost some of the ways they typically coped with their symptoms during the pandemic, said Dr. There are a lot of factors that contributed to the rise in the use of antidepressants in recent years.

There are also possible sleep changes worth noting when starting these medications. According to the Mayo Clinic, insomnia makes it hard for some to fall asleep, stay asleep, wake up at a desired time, or be able to go back to sleep once you wake up.įor those who are now considering stopping their antidepressants as we see breakthroughs with the pandemic, it’s good to be aware of the potential withdrawal symptoms and the importance of weaning off them appropriately to avoid sleep disruptions. Within this same period, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.Īlthough a great tool for combatting effects of the pandemic for many, these medications can come with their own downfalls - especially when it comes to insomnia. This led a lot of people to seek help.Īccording to a 2020 report by express scripts, the number of weekly antidepressants, anti-anxiety, and anti-insomnia medications increased 21 percent between Februand March 15, 2020. The pandemic disrupted a lot of people’s lives - financially, physically, and mentally. However, conditions were quite different two years ago. Many people have gone back to work, some places have tossed out masks, and others are focused on vaccines. We’re about to mark two years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and it seems in a lot of ways, life is returning to the way it used to be.