Antidepressants for Aspies?

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I wanted to know if it is common to treat Aspies with Antidepressants? Also is it helpful in combating the high levels of anxiety and depression? My boyfriends Neuropsychologist is recommending he be started on Antidepressants asap, he was recently diagnosed.

No one can answer this for you; people experience medications very differently. Some people here depend on them, others like me get weird side effects.

The Psychiatrist that I have seen to get diagnosed hastily tried to prescribe me SSRI's and SNRI's, but I kindly turned them down since I don't want elevated Prolactin levels from them.

If you have high Prolactin levels your Dopamine levels go down, just like a seesaw.

This explains the whole sexual dysfunction aspect of antidepressants, which sometimes can become permanent.

Avoid antidepressants, they are also physically addictive (withdrawals).

Last edited by MicroChip on 08 Sep 2010, 4:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Personally, I avoid any and all drugs if at all humanly possible. I do NOT want my mind screwed with, thank you very much. If I am depressed then there is usually a very good reason for it. Indeed, if you live in today's world and you are not depressed, then you have a problem!

I was put on Paxil, 12 years ago, and it still works.

I tried Wellbutrin and it was just terrible. I'm actually on an anti-anxiety drug right now called Buspar and its so so, makes me dizzy sometimes. Exercise helps. Some of our depression may be more situational than biological. I'm often brought down by rejection or a bevy of bad and embarrassing memories that don't want to go away.

Have you looked into behavioral therapy first before medication??

Medications only mask underlying symptoms and do little to help them.

meds should only be used in extreme cases.

Don't forget, there are lots of over the counter(and safe) anti-depressents. I used to think I had depression, then I started taking a one a day multi-vitamin(specialized to give energy) and st Johns wort. Alot of doctors in differnt countrys around the world prescribe st johns, but(as far as I know) not in north America

Edit: make sure to do your research first thou. Its not 100% safe and can effect other meds

I take paxil, and its worked out reasonably well for me.

Therapy > Medication. I hate it when there's a logical reason for someone to be depressed (family abuse, bullying, trauma, list goes on...) and a doctor suggests a cureall, take this pill and everything will be ok!

I don't know. The first antidepressant I took, Lexapro, made my depression 10x worse and I attempted suicide on it. In the psych ward, I took Wellbutrin and it worked for a while. Now doctors are suggesting a bipolar type depression, so now I'm also taking Depakote, which is not an antidepressant but a mood stabilizer.

With antidepressants from my understanding, is - be really, really careful. More so than these 'doctors'. If you don't have typical depression and they give you an antidepressant, something wrong is likely to happen. If someone's depressed about anything that could be considered traumatic or a long period of abuse (including bullying) or loneliness, or anything like that, I wouldn't suggest an antidepressant right away. Most of the time there's better alternatives anyways.

If he is actually depressed in addition to having Asperger's, then it might help - about half of people who are treated with antidepressants are said to respond positively to treatment. There are better treatments specific to anxiety.

Being diagnosed with Asperger's might actually make things a whole lot better, because having and explanation for problems goes a long way to solving them.

They either didn't work or made things worse for me. I wish people would listen to me when I tell them why I am depressed instead of wanting to pump me full of drugs.

Thank you so much for all your responses, I am an NT and was prescribed antidepressants a few years ago and they made me nuts... My body simply did not respond well. I myself used St johns wort instead and it worked very well for me. He is depressed according to his evaluation but I believe it is situational, he said that he has been on antidepressants in the past and they have worked for him. I guess I am just concerned because of my personal reaction and do not want to see a difficult situation become worse.

Thank you so much for all your input. Being a part of this community is already improving my life and my relationship.

The last anti-depressant made me feel suicidal so i went without one.