Do psych meds change your personality?

[MidnightMarauder]

This is definitely something I've noticed over the years taking meds.  I am currently taking Saphris and Viibryd and recently started taking less Saphris with the instruction of my doctor.  I went from 10mg to 7.5mg.  I immediately noticed I was less tired in the morning and didn't feel the urge to sleep extremely late.  I also felt less lazy and was willing to do more without getting annoyed.  The downside is that I felt socially awkward and uncomfortable, even if I really wasn't I felt like I was being that way.  This was the ultimate factor in me going back to the 10 mg.

 

I've also noticed that anti-depressants can change my personality, like if I increase dosage I feel that 'everything is awesome' and all of the feelings of worry or anxiousness I had turn into positivity.

 

Does anyone else notice these changes to your personality?

[The Emperor]

Yes I have! Sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes a combo of the two (THAT'S a shitty situation) and yeah. Definitely.

 

Uh, for example- Abilify took away my obsessive thoughts and panic attacks, so I was more positive. Aided me in getting fatter than I'd ever been. Stopped that one.

 

On Lithium, was okay at a low dose, higher dose I swear I was more apathetic than ever. More robotic. Didn't give a shit about anything one way or the other. It sucked. So I remained large. Dropped that one. THOUGH I will say, my hypomania was certainly well under control.

 

Now I'm on a cocktail, Trileptal, Lamictal and Klonopin and this is working very well for my symptoms, for the lack of side effects anyway. I needed a benzo more than I thought. I wasn't living at all and I thought that was the best I could do. I thought I wasn't so anxious because it had been worse in the past. It was bad. The anxiety is so much better that I'm doing so much better with productivity and positivity and everything.

 

I don't think it's just psych meds. Like birth control (hormones) made me a raging bitch. Like, I hated myself and everyone and I'm sure most people hated me.

 

Good or bad or not at all, I believe this does happen.

[OliverB]

Uhm, I found they sedated me and made me more "obedient". My mind got so void that I tried to fix it talking to people; I was less productive and more standard. I couldn't bear anxiety, my toleration was much lower, but I rarely got anxious. My mood wasn't better, it was more chaotic.

 

I-t-w-a-s-n-'t-m-y-h-e-a-d

 

 

I didn't find a medication that worked -Misdiagnosis, parents interfering...-

[jt07]

No med has ever changed my personality. I would be glad if one did, but I'm still the same person on any med that I've taken (and I've taken multiple meds in all classes of ADs, 7 different antipsychotics, and 6 different anticonvulsants). Most of the meds either had no effect or sedated me. Some have helped me immensely to ease my symptoms. But I am the same person on all of them.

[CeremonyNewOrder]

No med has ever changed my personality. I would be glad if one did, but I'm still the same person on any med that I've taken (and I've taken multiple meds in all classes of ADs, 7 different antipsychotics, and 6 different anticonvulsants). Most of the meds either had no effect or sedated me. Some have helped me immensely to ease my symptoms. But I am the same person on all of them.

I completely agree.

[melissaw72]

 

No med has ever changed my personality. I would be glad if one did, but I'm still the same person on any med that I've taken (and I've taken multiple meds in all classes of ADs, 7 different antipsychotics, and 6 different anticonvulsants). Most of the meds either had no effect or sedated me. Some have helped me immensely to ease my symptoms. But I am the same person on all of them.

I completely agree.

 

 

Me too.  My moods sometimes change but I've always been the same person.

[The Emperor]

Yeah, that makes more sense. Not a total overhaul of my personality by any means, but certain aspects become temporarily shitty. Especially on birth control. For a year, I was a bitch from hell that I didn't even recognize. That irritable mood crafted an ugly personality really. For a year.

 

So no they don't entirely change a personality, no, and you can most certainly improve or return to normal surely, but I think that changing the way you think about one thing or another (not giving a shit about anything, for example) changes your personality a tad. If only for a bit.

[Equivilency]

Meds don't change my personality. Meds change my mood. There is a huge difference between personality and mood. I'm who I am, no matter what--that is my personality. My mood is something completely different. My mood ranges between on top of the world and being in the pits. Mostly I'm somewhere in between.

^^ this.

[Velvet Elvis]

Right, if it could be changed by medication, it wouldn't be personality.

[San]

I agree with everyone saying they don't change your personality. That's something that stays. Meds and therapy, and a support system have helped me change my outlook on life, and made me less angry, but I'm the same San.

[Chelle25]

Funny, I just had this conversation with my pdoc. I told her that being medicated that I am not the same person that I used to be. In some instances this is a good thing but in other instances it's bad.

I take 20 mg of geodon a day at the present. I have been on as high as 80 mg. at each dosage I have changed.

At 80 mg I was withdrawn and did not care to socialize or talk to people. I was a complete zombie. 60 mg the same thing. At 40 mg was a little bit better but not much. I always felt I did not fit in.

At 20 mg my symptoms are still under check and I figure this is the closest I will get to my old self. I am now outgoing again and enjoy socializing but I still feel lazy and tired.

One of the girls at work confided in me that when I was at the higher dose her and the others thought I was just weird and quiet. She told me what a difference in me from back then to now.

So I do believe in a sense they can change who we are.

[lysergia]

i kinda have mixed thoughts about this too.

 

some things don't change depending on meds.  but some things do, and some of those things get attributed to personality.

 

for example, meds can make me friendly and talkative, or terrified of people and stammering.  and i don't mean symptomatic or not - i mean the meds themselves caused me to think and behave in this manner.  like abilify made me a sociable motormouth.  i'm not like that.  latuda made every interaction excruciating.  i'm not like that either.  those things aren't *me*.  but they are considered personality traits like outgoing and/or shy.

 

so i guess i think that some meds for some people can bend some personality traits some of the time.  well that's helpful.

[jt07]

Adding on to what I wrote above, my illness significantly changed my personality. I guess my whole life has been a quest to get my old self back. To date no med has ever been able to do that completely. Also, in real life I am very introverted, timid and shy. No med has ever changed that either. I am who I am not matter what meds I take or have taken.

[melissaw72]

^^ That is a good point.  Now that I am thinking about it, mine did too.  Not a lot, but some.  I used to not be afraid to leave my house and I went everywhere without a care in the world.  Now I have agoraphobia.  I get tired a lot from dealing with the MI (and other medical problems), way more than usual, when I could do anything and everything during the day before the illness came to be.

 

So I guess I can see it both ways.  The meds affected my mood, but the MI changed my personality.

[Equivilency]

Adding on to what I wrote above, my illness significantly changed my personality. I guess my whole life has been a quest to get my old self back. To date no med has ever been able to do that completely. Also, in real life I am very introverted, timid and shy. No med has ever changed that either. I am who I am not matter what meds I take or have taken.

 

I agree. I'm still trying to get to get my old self back too.

[Flash]

No med has ever changed my personality. I would be glad if one did, but I'm still the same person on any med that I've taken (and I've taken multiple meds in all classes of ADs, 7 different antipsychotics, and 6 different anticonvulsants). Most of the meds either had no effect or sedated me. Some have helped me immensely to ease my symptoms. But I am the same person on all of them.

I completely agree.

 

Me too.  My moods sometimes change but I've always been the same person.. the medicines don't change who i am, but mood episodes most certainly do. Since an a couple of psych meds have given me mood episode problems, I can't hold them entirely blameless. But generally, I don't think the meds change my personality.z

[Schizophrenic_Sanity]

No medication has ever had any effect on my personality.  

[KillBytes]

Meds don't change my personality. Meds change my mood. There is a huge difference between personality and mood. I'm who I am, no matter what--that is my personality. My mood is something completely different. My mood ranges between on top of the world and being in the pits. Mostly I'm somewhere in between.

 

100% correct, saved me the trouble of pointing that out.  I think a lot of people actually mean behavor or moods when they refer to personality. Meds can certainly change one's behavor or mood. But not their personality, that is wired in your dna.