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Zoloft dependency is a major problem, just as in all SSRIs. What this means in simple terms is that when a person stops taking the drug or even reduces the amount of the drug, i.e., going from 40 mg to 20 mg, they experience adverse physical and/or psychological events. This is one area where the different SSRIs part company. By far the worst dependency-producing SSRI is Paxil. Followed fairly closely by Zoloft and more distantly by Prozac. The reason for the difference is strictly chemical. Dependency is dictated by the drug’s “half-life” (the length of time the drug stays in a person’s body). The shorter the half-life, the worse the dependency adverse effects. Because Paxil’s half-life is 21 hours, it ranks No. 1 in causing dependency. Zoloft follows close behind with a half-life of 26 hours. Prozac, on the other hand, has a half-life of 5.7 days.

That SSRIs cause dependence has been thoroughly documented, but generally kept from the public. One Pfizer scientist, Dr. Roger Lane, who, until early 2001, was the Medical Director of the Zoloft Product Strategy Team at Pfizer, freely discusses this problem with SSRIs in his 1996 article published in the Journal of Serotonin Research, entitled “Withdrawal symptoms after discontinuation of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).” As Dr. Lane states in rather technical terms:

“The central nervous system (CNS) adapts to the presence of psychoactive drugs. Such adaptation commonly involves the adjustment of neuroreceptors to compensate for the pharmacological actions of the drug. These compensatory changes may only occur gradually, which may explain the delayed onset of therapeutic effects of antidepressants. This adaptation theory also explains why withdrawal symptoms and signs can occur on the discontinuation of such medications as clearance of drug can occur at a rate faster than the brain can readjust to the absence of medication. Thus, pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic factors contribute to the risk of withdrawal symptoms.”

The effects that people feel who have become dependent on SSRIs include:

jolting electric "zaps," dizziness, motor instability, extreme nausea, vomiting, high fever, abdominal discomfort, flu symptoms, agitation, anxiety, insomnia, aggression, nightmares, tremor, seizures and confusion.

It is also known that these effects can be so severe that some people have killed themselves to end their misery.

Unfortunately, many physicians are not aware that SSRIs cause dependence and often fail to recognize this problem in their patients. As a result, some patients are wrongfully diagnosed as having depression relapse. Others are sent off for CT scans or other costly and unnecessary tests.

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