Dr. Anthony Rothschild answers the question: 'Side Effects Of Antidepressants?'
Question: What side effects can antidepressants cause in adults?
Answer: Well, actually the most common side effects from antidepressants would include things like headache, nausea, gastrointestinal disturbances, sexual dysfunction.
There are people, and it's rare, who have bipolar disorder, manic depressive illness, or undiagnosed bipolar disorder, who can, when prescribed an antidepressant, switch into a manic episode -- a period of high energy, going without sleep -- and also irritability, and in extreme forms, psychosis.
So there is a risk in somebody who has bipolar disorder or a strong family history of bipolar disorder of that happening, and it's important for people to be monitored for that.
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