Youth Taking SSRIs For Anxiety, OCD May Be More Likely To Experience Side Effects Causing Them To Discontinue The Medication Than Those Taking SNRIs, Meta-Analysis Reveals

Psychiatric News (12/11) reports, “Youth who are taking antidepressants in the class of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are more likely to experience side effects that cause them to discontinue the medication than those taking serotonin-norepinephrine inhibitors (SNRIs),” researchers concluded after analyzing “data on adverse reactions to SSRIs and SNRIs in 18 studies involving more than 2,600 children and teenagers under the age of 18 treated for anxiety or OCD.” The study also revealed that SSRIs “appear to be more commonly associated with ‘activation syndrome’ – a cluster of symptoms including restlessness, anxiety, and agitation.” The findings of the Bayesian hierarchical modeling meta-analysis were published online Nov. 1 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “SNRIs May Be More Tolerable Than SSRIs for Some Youth With Anxiety, OCD, Psychiatric News, December 11, 2019

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