Experience during the Early Stages of Treatment with Antidepressants

There is an abundance of research on the
psychopharmacological treatment of depression.
However, recent controversy surrounding potential
increases in suicidality with SSRIs has highlighted
deficits in our understanding of experience during
treatment. To explore the nature of changes in inner
experience during the initiation of medication, we
recruited three depressed individuals. We conducted
in-depth case studies of their experience over the
first 10 weeks of medication. Participants completed
weekly questionnaires and participated in Descriptive
Experience Sampling (DES). The profiles of these
three participants varied greatly. The participants
showed high degrees of comorbidity and different
patterns of changes in symptoms over the 10 weeks.
Interestingly, none of the participants reported
depression in their momentary experience after the
first week. These three case studies support careful
exploration of the inner experience of individuals
initiating treatment with antidepressant medication.
They also point to the potential value of taking an
idiographic approach, which recognizes the unique
inner experience of individuals, before attempting to
draw generalizations.

Autorentext
Noelle Lefforge is a doctoral student in psychology. Christopher Heavey is an associate professor of psychology and associate dean. Their research focuses on methodological issues in understanding inner experience and examining the experience of emotions and depression.

Klappentext
There is an abundance of research on the psychopharmacological treatment of depression. However, recent controversy surrounding potential increases in suicidality with SSRIs has highlighted deficits in our understanding of experience during treatment. To explore the nature of changes in inner experience during the initiation of medication, we recruited three depressed individuals. We conducted in-depth case studies of their experience over the first 10 weeks of medication. Participants completed weekly questionnaires and participated in Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES). The profiles of these three participants varied greatly. The participants showed high degrees of comorbidity and different patterns of changes in symptoms over the 10 weeks. Interestingly, none of the participants reported depression in their momentary experience after the first week. These three case studies support careful exploration of the inner experience of individuals initiating treatment with antidepressant medication. They also point to the potential value of taking an idiographic approach, which recognizes the unique inner experience of individuals, before attempting to draw generalizations.