Antidepressants Associated With Increased Driving Risk

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Researchers from the Taiwan and the United States find through a study of 5,183 subjects with motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and 31,093 matched controls that subjects who had taken antidepressants were 70% more likely to experience an accident within a month. A similar association was found for benzodiazepines (56% more likely) and sleep aids (42%). This relationship was not found for antipsychotics. Results appear online today in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

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Chang, C, Wu, E., et al; Psychotropic Drugs and Risk of Motor Vehicle Accidents: a Population-based Case-Control Study. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Online September 12, 2012

Of further interest:
Antidepressants, sleeping pills raise driving risk

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Kermit Cole
Kermit Cole
Kermit Cole, MFT, founding editor of Mad in America, works in Santa Fe, New Mexico as a couples and family therapist. Inspired by Open Dialogue, he works as part of a team and consults with couples and families that have members identified as patients. His work in residential treatment — largely with severely traumatized and/or "psychotic" clients — led to an appreciation of the power and beauty of systemic philosophy and practice, as the alternative to the prevailing focus on individual pathology. A former film-maker, he has undergraduate and master's degrees in psychology from Harvard University, as well as an MFT degree from the Council for Relationships in Philadelphia. He is a doctoral candidate with the Taos Institute and the Free University of Brussels. You can reach him at [email protected]

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