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Thursday, December 10, 2009
Personality
I came across an article discussing at the results of a study of antidepressants.
The study found that the anti-depressant Paxil (and in theory all SSRIs) do more than alleviate the patient’s depression, it found that the anti-depressant actually changed the personality of those taking the drug.
In the study, people who took Paxil (paroxetine), a selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), had a drop in neuroticism, which is a tendency toward emotional instability and negative mood. They also had an increase in extraversion, which is a tendency toward outgoingness, compared to similarly depressed people taking placebo.
As someone who takes anti-depressants, am I unsure how I feel about this.
The drugs I am changing may well be changing my entire personality, and not just alleviating my depression? Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?
Part of me is disturbed by the idea of a personality change, but the greater part of me enjoys being more outgoing, and I definitely prefer being emotionally stable to the alternative. (I’m prone to mood swings anyway, and if they annoy me, I’m sure they’re far worse for those around me.)
So emotional stability is a good thing, and for me, an increase in extroversion is a good thing. But is it possible someone could decide that introversion itself is something that should be treated? Would it be acceptable to treat someone with an SSRI because they are introverted, even if they aren’t depressed? Would an SSRI even affect the introversion of someone who was not depressed?
As usual, I have no answers, only more questions. But for me, I’m pleased with the effect that the anti-depressant I am taking has upon both my mood and personality, so I’ll take that as a good thing.
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December 11th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I would think just alleviating depression would be a personality change. Just ask that singer, Morrissey (?) if depression is a personality trait. So what is “normal” as a level to return to for someone who is regularly depressed? A bit of extroversion might be where the “normal” line is drawn.
As to treating someone for introversion, I think that would depend on whether both the patient and the doctor consider the introversion “not normal,” their decision, not ours.
I don’t think I’m normally depressed, though I do have bouts, but a bit of introversion alleviation might have helped my in the past. So, I wonder. Which, I think, is the point of your questions. I wonder, but I don’t really know. Thanks for making me think. :)
December 11th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I too don’t think a change in ‘version makes for a personality change. I think it’s rather a person’s comfort level with expressing their personality, if that makes sense. If an introvert is a jerk, few people might know it. If that same person moves toward extroversion — he’s still a jerk, just more people know it. So perhaps Paxil has the side effect of changing the perception of a person’s personality, but the their actual personality.
I’m tired, that may not have made any sense. :)
December 12th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
It really depends on if the drugs will be prescribed for side effects, such as if someone isn’t depressed, but is introverted and the doctor prescribes paxil to alter that. Then, I think, we’ve crossed a line. That people who are prescribed anti-depressants and (hopefully) are no longer depressed and so don’t suffer from the symptoms (which can include a desire to be by oneself and, at least for me, mood swings) sounds like the drugs are doing their job and relieving the patient of their symptoms. Now, this info can be used correctly, as my doctor prescribed me wellbutrin because it’s one of the few antidepressants that doesn’t stimulate appetite (since I’m seeing him to lose weight/stave off diabetes). So if doctors use this info to say, “Okay, well, you’re not normally extroverted so we shouldn’t prescribe this for you” or “if this starts happening, you need to tell us and we’ll adjust your medication.”
December 12th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I’m skeptical about the supposed personality change aspect.
It seems that depression leads to a greater degree of introversion (after all, extroversion takes effort and energy that depression saps from you). So in order to evaluate a reduction in natural introversion, you would have to be able to distinguish natural introversion from depression induced introversion.
Besides, in my experience, personality is not a completely fixed thing. Mine changes based on how I feel, what kind of experiences I’ve had lately, alignment of the constellations (just kidding). Sure, there’s a basic core which generally has an introverted aspect but I’ve learned in the last decade that extroverted periods really help my general mood (even when I’m not with people afterward).
December 12th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
I’d think it’d be entirely up to the patient what they want to do with their personality. If they dislike being introverted and ask the doctor to help with that, sure, why not? The important thing is whether the patient likes the end result. Sounds like you (Michelle) do (if that is indeed what the drug does), so what’s the problem? ;)
December 12th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
So here were my concerns.
If we start treating introversion as something to be “fixed” and medicating solely on that basis, does it then become something parents can medicate their kids for?
What if they discover a drug to cure being an asshole? Is that something that should be prescribed? Is it something that parents can medicate their kids for?
I guess I’m concerned by the idea of medicating people for something that isn’t a problem, with the aim of creating a heterogeneous society. I mean, when my mom was little, her teachers thought that being left-handed was something that needed to be corrected and changed.
There are some things that are problems, and some things that aren’t. How do we determine what really is a problem that needs to be fixed with medication?
December 13th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
It seems that you are worrying about a symptom of a problem, rather than the problem itself. The problem being: the value placed by society on a personality trait. Because there are other symptoms of this problem besides medication. There is, primarily, the ostracizing and devaluation of people with “unproductive” traits.
I don’t know where we are in finding a solution to the problem. There seems to be the beginnings of an awareness that there is a problem (the Dove advertising campaign about the different expressions of feminine beauty, for example) but it has yet to translate from value placed on physical traits to value placed on emotional or intellectual traits. (They are still depending on standardized test to evaluate students, for goodness’ sake. Ridiculous!)
And I honestly do not see society becoming more homogeneous. I think the capitalistic society has figured out that there is more money to be made in conflict and competition (Mac vs. PC… whichever one you have, the other side is nutso!) than there is in forcing everyone to buy the same thing and act the same way.
Society is increasingly more polarized. Fortunately, that allows a lot of cracks for moderates and independents to be as they wish to be.