does anti depressants and anti anxiety drugs help with addiction as well?
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In general, medications are not used to treat addictions. There is little evidence of any medications that work for addictions. However, there are different medications which may be helpful for people with addictions.
You may have heard of Zyban (generic name is buproprion and also has the trade name Wellbutrin) which is used to treat tobacco addiction. It has been helpful for some people. They have been doing studies to see if Zyban is helpful for other types of addictions, but I’m not aware of any other convincing data to show it works for other additions.
There was some interest in Topamax (generic name is topiramate) for treating alcohol dependence. There was some improvement compared to placebo, but nothing amazingly dramatic.
As someone else mentioned, if the person with addictions suffers from depression or anxiety, then antidepressant medications may help as once the depression/anxiety is treated, the person may have less drive to use drugs/alcohol. In people without depression/anxiety, these medications have shown no benefit in treating the addiction.
There are also some medications that help with addictions in other ways, but they are not antidepressant medications. Medications such as antabuse to dissuade people from drinking alcohol, or methadone which can help people with opiate addictions.
3 Comments
November 30th, 2009 at 2:40 am
Yes, definitely. Some more than others. You can check it out on the drug company’s websites. Your doctor will know for sure what works in his experience.
References :
works for me
November 30th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Usually, not .But depression is always result of addiction,and they go in a circle like depression ……..abuse of a substance……..guilt……… depression again but when u break this circle u may be happy with antidepressants and there is a danger of u r getting addicted to antidepressant itself try other ways of getting out of depression as far as addiction is concerned aversion therapy helps consult ur psychologist or psyghiatrist, take care .
References :
November 30th, 2009 at 3:08 am
In general, medications are not used to treat addictions. There is little evidence of any medications that work for addictions. However, there are different medications which may be helpful for people with addictions.
You may have heard of Zyban (generic name is buproprion and also has the trade name Wellbutrin) which is used to treat tobacco addiction. It has been helpful for some people. They have been doing studies to see if Zyban is helpful for other types of addictions, but I’m not aware of any other convincing data to show it works for other additions.
There was some interest in Topamax (generic name is topiramate) for treating alcohol dependence. There was some improvement compared to placebo, but nothing amazingly dramatic.
As someone else mentioned, if the person with addictions suffers from depression or anxiety, then antidepressant medications may help as once the depression/anxiety is treated, the person may have less drive to use drugs/alcohol. In people without depression/anxiety, these medications have shown no benefit in treating the addiction.
There are also some medications that help with addictions in other ways, but they are not antidepressant medications. Medications such as antabuse to dissuade people from drinking alcohol, or methadone which can help people with opiate addictions.
References :
Many years as a mental health professional.