Prescription psychiatric medications can help improve mental health and well-being, but they frequently have side effects, such as weight gain. Today, we’d like to discuss how medication intervention causes people to gain weight and what you can do to avoid this common side effect of psychiatric medications.
Primary classes of psychiatric prescription drugs are antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics (also known as anti-anxiety medications, which may include sleep medications), mood stabilizers, and stimulants.
Stimulants, unlike antidepressants, are not known to cause weight gain in patients, but they can cause weight loss due to appetite suppression. Antidepressants, on the other hand, can cause weight fluctuations. But why is that?
Both boost serotonin levels in the brain. Short-term use of psychiatric medications reduces impulsivity and increases satiety, which can result in weight loss. Long-term use, however, “causes downregulation of serotonin receptors, which subsequently causes cravings for carbohydrate-rich foods such as bread, pasta, and sweets, which may eventually lead to weight gain,” according to Harvard Medical School.
As a result, when taking psychiatric medication, a consultation with your mental health providers in Parkville, Maryland, is recommended so that you can be educated on various ways to minimize weight gain and other side effects.
Our behavioral health care providers in Parkville, Maryland, will make sure to help you:
- Adhere to a healthy lifestyle, such as eating a well-balanced diet.
- Avoid alcohol and smoking.
- Exercise regularly to help reduce cravings for sweets and carbohydrates.
- Provide you with other alternatives that do not cause weight gain.
Primal Point LLC provides behavioral health in Maryland that improves your well-being. We understand how significant weight gain or loss can affect someone’s life. As such, we place it upon ourselves to provide thorough assessment and support to boost patient health.
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