The truth about pills and dementia

For many people, antidepressants are a lifesaver. But a study this week seemed to show they also might have some very serious adverse effects.

It found a link between those taking antidepressants long term and a raised risk of dementia.

The study is important, but not for the reason people might assume. For it didn’t show that antidepressants cause dementia; it found an association, which is a very different thing.

This simply means that the actual cause might be something that links the two things.

For example, coffee drinking is associated with lung cancer. But this isn’t because coffee causes lung cancer; it’s because people who smoke are more likely to drink coffee. It’s the smoking that causes the lung cancer.

So, why might taking antidepressants for a long time be associated with an increased risk of dementia? It’s fair to assume that if someone is on antidepressants long term, then the chances are they must have severe, recurrent depression.

We know that there is a link between depression and developing dementia. So it would make sense that if you have recurrent, severe depression, you’re at greater risk of developing dementia. It’s not the antidepressant that is increasing the risk, but the underlying depression that it’s treating.

But why would something psychological, like depression, result in a neurological degenerative disease such as dementia?

We are starting to realise that depression is not only a mental problem, but that it also has physical effects on the brain, with a strong link between depression and inflammation.

Could it be that the inflammatory process going on in depression somehow triggers dementia? What is becoming clear is that the mind and the body interact far more than we ever imagined.