Do antidepressants cause a lack of creativity?

[Loribop]

I am on Pristiq (the new Effexor) and have not painted since starting the med a few years ago.  Recently I set up all the things I need to paint, but I have no motivation to create.  I have started to slowly mean myself off Pristiq and will be seeing my psychiatrist tomorrow to discuss.  I have no sex drive and feel numb.  Are these feeling due to what I am going thru in my life (divorce, losing most of my pets, moving, losing my condo, owing money)? Or is it a side affect of antidepressants?  I want to paint again.  I don't want to become overwhelmed by feelings of guilt and sadness as a result of leaving my husband and my home.  I deal with these feelings at least once a day.  Life is hard enough, and I've taken antidepressants on and off for about 10 years.  I am scared to go off Pristiq, but I want to feel alive.  Prior to being on meds I only felt deep sadness and despair.  I can honestly say the meds took that away.  So if it's a toss up between not feeling despair and extreme sadness, but also losing creativity and sex drive Vs. being depressed but feeling creative, which should I choose?  When I am depressed I can't get out of bed and don't have the energy to paint anyway.  I think if I choose to go off the meds, I have to replace the pills with exercise, therapy, yoga (or some sort of relaxation) and nutrition.  These things should be my new SSRI. It's a lot more work than taking a pill, but worth it, I hope.  

This turned out to be more like a journal than a post!  Does anyone have experience with this?  Has anyone had to make this choice?  I, in no way, want to convince anyone to stop taking meds.  They have a very important role in our lives.  I just wonder if I should take a break.  My head is pounding and I have brain zaps, nausea, and dizziness as a result of cutting back on Pristiq.  I remember going off Effexor and it was pure misery.  I'm not looking forward to the next month or so, but I think i need to give this a try.  I can always go back on meds if I feel horrible off them.  Please share your experiences about this topic with me, as I could use the advice.

Lori

Lori

[BoydFree]

Hi. I can say without a doubt that it stumps one's creativity. I am off of it for 5 days now and I am back to my old self. I am a writer with a few successes under my belt (before Prystiq).  What a difference. I forgot about this part of me. I gave it all up. However now I am getting off my *** and taking on projects, laughing more, loving more, and writing more. I was on Lexapro for 6 years before Prystiq. I was more relaxed during this 7 year hike, but that spark I once held is now back. don't blame yourself. It's the drug. Get past what you need to get past but get off of it soon after or the lethargy will suck you in until you think "this" is who you are. Good luck.

[teri928]

I've struggled with depression since I was 7. I am now heading into my 30th birthday and still battling. I've been on and off meds, in and out of therapy my whole life. When I am medicated, I get better, but there are just as many positive side effects as there are negative. I just got married a month ago and with my stress and exhaustion from full time work and school, my sex drive isn't what it should be. I know going back on medication, especially if they put me back on Effexor, it will damage my sex drive more and completely destroy my ability to orgasm. On top of that, I feel sapped of all creativity. I love to write but when I am medicated I can't write anything more creative than a small office memo. After coming off the meds last time, it took me a very long time to be able to write again. I've recently been finding myself writing more and more but also been showing signs of my depression returning. Yes the medicine is a bit over controlling which straps my creative side. But I also think that too much of my inspiration to be creative comes out of pain. Depression patients commonly find themself in a state that forces them to enable the illness. For me, I get added inspiration with pain and sorrow which ends up encouraging me to go without treatment for extended periods. I feel as if I am losing my identity when I lose my creativity.
Unfortunately the sexual side effects I've suffered with the treatment is all from the Effexor. Not being able to get the full effect of satisfaction with your lover is just as depressing as seeing life without the Effexor goggles. I am currently to the point that I have no choice but to go back on the meds. I've been waiting and trying to fight through this on my own but it has gotten to the point of preventing me from completing work or my studies. I find myself spending an entire day feeling lost when I would typically be wizzing through task after task in record time. Depression is tearing away at my ability to function in every area of my life.

[nn_compact]

I am currently on Pristiq 200mg and my creativity has halted.  I am also a painter myself and I sit in my studio feeling very frustrated that the creativity is not flowing.  I paint abstract and at the moment my work is absolute rubbish.  However when it comes to drawing still life or life models my work has came out quite well.  I suppose drawing an image that is in front of you is not considered pure creative, and when I say that I do not mean any disrespect to artist who do realism.  I think is more my style of drawing I do not engage the creative side of me.

I have noticed taking 200mg I feel numb, i have no sex drive and emotionally detached.  i know when I paint abstract I need to feel all the emotions to paint my story.  Hence I do believe Pristiq is inhibiting my creativity.  I need to feel raw emotions to express myself on canvas.  At the moment I am producing work that have no depth, no story and its just an expression from a simple on the surface emotion.  

I am considering to lower the dosage to see if the side effect will decrease.  Will keep you posted how it goes.

Cheers :)

[nn_compact]

I am currently on Pristiq 200mg and my creativity has halted.  I am also a painter myself and I sit in my studio feeling very frustrated that the creativity is not flowing.  I paint abstract and at the moment my work is absolute rubbish.  However when it comes to drawing still life or life models my work has came out quite well.  I suppose drawing an image that is in front of you is not considered pure creative, and when I say that I do not mean any disrespect to artist who do realism.  I think is more my style of drawing I do not engage the creative side of me.

I have noticed taking 200mg I feel numb, i have no sex drive and emotionally detached.  i know when I paint abstract I need to feel all the emotions to paint my story.  Hence I do believe Pristiq is inhibiting my creativity.  I need to feel raw emotions to express myself on canvas.  At the moment I am producing work that have no depth, no story and its just an expression from a simple on the surface emotion.  

I am considering to lower the dosage to see if the side effect will decrease.  Will keep you posted how it goes.

Cheers :)

[JennaLeigh40]

I too have had this. Since starting on antidepressents, Lexapro, Cymbalt then at last, Pristiq, can't write anything more than an email, and even getting motivated to do  that's sometimes a challenge.  It's like living in a coccoon of gray, with no color left in the world.  I've been thinking of talking to my doctor about stopping lately, just so I'll feel something again, and maybe be able to write.

[HumanePain]

I have experienced your symptoms as well.
In 2006 I fell into depression (triggered by andopause although at the time I didn't realize it). By summer I was crying at work, during my 90 minute commute home and on weekends. Anything could trigger it, a sad song, a news article about a child's death, every which way I turned I was saddened and lost interest in work, paying bills and outside activity. But...the internet kept me sane. I found a website for aspiring writers, and I decided to try writing my feelings out, hoping that by expressing myself through the characters in my stories I would purge the depression.

The result surprised me. Readers loved my stories! I began to receive emails from around the world by many who loved my stories and wanted more. So I continued writing, and discovered the first story was no accident, as 60,000 words later and hundreds of chapters through many stories and poems I was still popular amongst not only the original website, but other websites as well and eventually received offers from magazines to publish my work. (I have been published under a pen name since 2007).

BUT I was still crying at work, hiding in my cubicle and hoping no one would see my in tears. I couldn't function. So i sought treatment, and received a prescription for Lexapro.

In three days my depression lifted. I felt "normal" again, able to now see a joy in just a morning sunrise, in a friend's smile etc. however, I soon realized I did not have the visions anymore, the movies in my mind that my hands merely typed out in description. I had to "work" at my creativity, and then it did not excite anyone. My stories lacked something that I had in the beginning. I go back and read those stories now and it is as if someone else wrote them.

I experimented with going off my Lexapro, and sure enough the tears returned, and I could not wait for the visions to return as well. There were bills to pay and work to do. I had to keep my job.

So I have not written anything worth while since then. I miss writing, I miss the visions, I miss the me I used to be.