Do Antidepressants Make You a Bad Driver?
If you are taking antidepressants, but are still quite depressed, it may interfere with your ability to drive, according to a new study.
"We already know that depression causes concentration problems," said study author Holly J. Dannewitz. "And now it appears that people taking antidepressants who also have relatively higher depression scores fare significantly worse when attempting to perform a computerized simulation of driving."
While a graduate student at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, Dannewitz and her team asked 60 people to participate in a computer simulated "drive" which mimicked normal driving activities such as braking, steering and responding to traffic lights.
Those who were taking antidepressants and had high depression scores did worse on the test than those who were not taking antidepressants. They also did worse than those who were taking antidepressants, but had low depression scores. However, the antidepressant takers who had depression scores in the normal range did just as well as those who were not taking antidepressants.
The authors said the results may be due to problems with concentration and memory and that future work should be devoted to determining if the antidepressants or the depression itself is to blame.
Dannewitz and her colleagues presented their findings on August 17 at the American Psychological Association annual meeting, in Boston.
Comments
I don’t drive after I take my medication because it makes me drowsy. But I was a bad driver before I was diagnosed with depression and have remained so even while my depression is in remission. I have a penchant for running over stationary objects.
Wendy Aron, author of Hide & Seek: How I Laughed at Depression, Conquered My Fears and Found Happiness
http://www.wendyaron.com
Interesting article. Thanks for the info.
At first blush, taking into account the data that antidepressant takers with low depression scores did as well as the people who were not taking antidepressants on the driving simulation, that seems to point toward depression itself causing the driving difficulties. The people with low depression scores perhaps have a regimen that is effective for them, whereas the ones who are still depressed do not. (??) Hard to say, not having all the data from the study in front of me. My personal experience: when my depression is well-managed, I drive much better than when my depression is bad.
LOL…If I didn’t drive everytime I took my “anti-depressants”, I would never drive and end up being more of an agoraphobic than I already am! The only time I had trouble driving is with the “anti-anxiety” meds due to their relaxant properties. I see possibilities of this going towards having to have a “restriction” on our drivers licenses, much like we do for glasses/contacts. We are going to have to disclose it when we get our licenses, then who else will we have to disclose our “penchant” for taking anti-depressants to???
Unless I missed reading something, I don’t see that there is any data on people with high depression scores who were not on antidepressants. Without that data, making any conclusions about the role of antidepressants in driving is premature and irresponsible. If the intent was to measure the effects of antidepressants on driving then this is a poorly designed study.
I have wrecked 8 out of the last 9 times I have driven. I was always terrified to drive in Dallas traffic, I have now hung up my driving days for good. Though Antidepressants do effect me, I think the shakes I get from taking Depakote are more to blame.
excellent article. I believe it is an attention issue brought about by taking anti depressant medication. I have noticed this to be an issue since I changed medications a few years back. Further study is clearly needed. Simulation is not driving in real time. Some medications I would guess do not impact driving reflexes. How big was the control group and the test group? thanks!
Duh! Good grief - I’ve been telling my therapists for years that I’m not capable of driving safely . . . my reflexes are way too slow to be handling any of the typical hazards of urban driving. Driving while depressed (for me) is a distinct impairment. I don’t think the medication is the litmus test. Instead, it is a question of my operational level of depression.
Wait a second- something is wrong with this! They should be compared to people who are as depressed without medicine!