Everyday Health, September 22, 2022, Nuna Alberts, LCSW Medically Reviewed by Allison Young, MD
Making matters more confusing, a medication you’re taking could also be to blame. A University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy study, published in 2018 in JAMA, estimated that 37.2 percent of U.S. adults may be using one or more prescription drugs that can cause side effects that mimic depression, including thoughts of suicide.
Those include oral contraceptives, as well as certain treatments for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, acid reflux, and severe acne.
“Patients and healthcare providers need to be aware of the risk of depression that comes with all kinds of common prescription drugs — many of which are also available over the counter,” notes Dima Mazen Qato, PharmD, PhD, the lead author of the study. (Dr. Qato is also the Hygeia Centennial Chair and an associate professor in the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Southern California Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics in Los Angeles.)
“Many may be surprised to learn that their medication, despite having nothing to do with mood or anxiety or any other condition normally associated with depression, can increase their risk of experiencing depressive symptoms and may lead to a depression diagnosis,” says Qato.