title: Patients' views of antidepressants: from first experiences to becoming expert.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The majority of patients discontinue antidepressant treatment earlier than prescribed. The factors behind this and the influences on patients' choices about whether to take medication remain poorly understood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore factors that influence patients' decisions about taking antidepressant medication.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative interview study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interviews were conducted across three sites: London, East Lancashire, and North East England.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 65 primary care patients who were prescribed antidepressants in the past year for depression or mixed anxiety/depression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants described their first course of antidepressants as typically occurring when they had 'hit rock bottom', having exhausted all other possibilities; therefore, there was little sense of a positive choice at this stage. There would typically follow a period of experimentation where it was usual to stop and restart medication, often several times. Ultimately, these recurring cycles lead to participants becoming more expert about their condition and better able to make an informed decision about medication. For younger participants, recovery typically remained a goal, although for older people there was often an acceptance that their condition, and medication use, would be long term.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Participants' accounts demonstrated how they could become expert at managing their condition through a process of trial and error.
authors: Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, Division of Health and Social Care Research, UK. peter.1.schofield@kcl.ac.uk
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Schofield
authors: Ann
authors: A
authors: Crosland
authors: Waquas
authors: W
authors: Waheed
authors: Ayesha
authors: A
authors: Waquas
authors: Saadia
authors: S
authors: Aseem
authors: Linda
authors: L
authors: Gask
authors: Annie
authors: A
authors: Wallace
authors: April
authors: A
authors: Dickens
authors: André
authors: A
authors: Tylee
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010349:Patient Compliance
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents