I do not take anything for depression, but I was just wondering how it would affect someone who is not depressed? Would it make them worse, better?
Thanks!
What would happen if you take a depression medicine like Effexor if you are not depressed?
Posted by admin on April 12th, 2012
Posted in Depression Q and A 
call your pharmacist!
Depressant have side effects...like making you more depressed, loss of libido and anxiety attacks. So that;s what would happen to you.
Effexor has other medicinal uses like for anxiety
Most likely, it could end up making you more depressed. My understanding of anti-depressants is that they affect the chemical balance in your brain in the attempt to "re-adjust" the off balance that leads to the depression in the first place.
If you are not depressed, most likely your chemicals are balanced properly, and throwing them off could be pretty detrimental.
Antidepressants are NOT just "happy pills" like a lot of people think they are. If you're not depressed, they really won't do anything to you. you might have to put up with the side effects unnecessarily (goodbye sex drive!), but aside from that nothing really happens. Also, it takes several WEEKS for people who ARE depressed to really start feeling any effects.
The side effects, incidentally, don't necessarily make you "more depressed", but would rather give someone who's MDD the energy to fully feel and act out their depression. The increased risk of suicide on them is actually attributed to the fact that the meds ARE starting to work. Many people with Major Depression have suicidal thoughts, but aren't in much danger because they literally don't have the energy to carry anything out. Once you start to have slightly more cognitive function, and slightly more energy, but the mood hasn't picked up yet, that's when things get bad. On a normal person, that's pretty unlikely to happen. Your chemically balanced brain MIGHT, however, stop producing the neurotransmitters (or as much of them, rather) on it's own, thus making you effectively dependant on said medication if taken long enough. I'm not sure if that happens, but it would kind of make sense.
So, no: bumming a friend's prozac won't get you high / happy.