Safety and Tolerability of Antidepressants: Weighing the Impact on Treatment Decisions

Major depressive disorders affect an estimated 23 million U.S. adults per year. While antidepressants areeffective in improving the symptoms of depression, side effects are an undesirable outcome of treatment andcan have an impact on patient adherence to treatment. Compared with older drugs, selective serotonin reuptakeinhibitors, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and other antidepressants have more benignside effect profiles. Research continues to elucidate new agents that may combine efficacy with a minimumof side effects, as well as new methods of predicting individual response to particular antidepressants.