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Comment by Judgmentality | Hacker News Reader

If antidepressants really are pervasive as you say, I'd be concerned about what it's doing to us as a species when it comes time to reproduce. Are the offspring of parents who regularly take anti-depressants any worse off than those who don't?

I think these are the sorts of questions that would be useful to know when really mass-prescribing drugs to humanity. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that the drugs are inherently harmful to offspring - but it seems like something that would be good to know. If the parents have a chemical dependency, what does that mean for the children?

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All medications, including antidepressants, are studied for potential reproductive harm. This is taken very seriously in wake of the Thalidomide disaster in the 60s.

Is it possible that antidepressants have some extremely subtle transgenerational epigenetic effects? Maybe, but comparing healthy patients to SSRI-treated remitted depressed patients is a bit of a red herring anyway. The real comparison would be between SSRI-treated patients and untreated depressed patients, because healthy people aren't prescribed SSRIs. We do know untreated depression is very harmful to people and their families, so speculating about immeasurably small negative effects of SSRIs while ignoring the massive and very real cost of untreated depression would be a mistake.

> The real comparison would be between SSRI-treated patients and untreated depressed patients, because healthy people aren't prescribed SSRIs.

I see it very differently, as you are focusing entirely on the parents and completely ignoring the children. If the untreated patients weren't going to have kids, the question is only whether or not the children are happy. If the children of parents with antidepressants are more likely to require antidepressants themselves, I'd say that's indicative of a serious problem.

> If the children of parents with antidepressants are more likely to require antidepressants themselves, I'd say that's indicative of a serious problem.

I'm not aware of any evidence that this is the case. Do you have any evidence, or are you speculating worst case scenarios?

Regardless, I think it's shortsighted and in poor taste to suggest that there is a problem with parents on SSRIs having children, particularly without any evidence to support your claims.

Everything I'm saying is speculation. I'm asking questions, not providing evidence one way or the other. I never said there was a problem.

So it is now verboten to ask questions?

SSRIs vs Untreated depression is a false dichotomy. There are many treatments for depression.

You don't think having a parent with untreated depression is bad for child development?

Some cases of depression and especially bipolar disorder seem to have a genetic component. Parents that are on SSRIs, SNRIs, antipsychotics and atypical antipsychotics are probably already much more likely to have children who have the same conditions and need antidepressants, as the underlying condition often has a genetic component.

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