Experience During the Early Stages of Treatment with Antidepressants: an Idiographic Approach

There is an abundance of research on the psychopharmacological treatment of depression. However, recent controversy surrounding potential increases in suicidality with SSRIs has highlighted deficits in our understanding of experience during treatment. To explore the nature of changes in inner experience during the initiation of medication, we recruited three depressed individuals. We conducted in-depth case studies of their experience over the first 10 weeks of medication. Participants completed weekly questionnaires and participated in Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES). The profiles of these three participants varied greatly. The participants showed high degrees of comorbidity and different patterns of changes in symptoms over the 10 weeks. Interestingly, none of the participants reported depression in their momentary experience after the first week. These three case studies support careful exploration of the inner experience of individuals initiating treatment with antidepressant medication. They also point to the potential value of taking an idiographic approach, which recognizes the unique inner experience of individuals, before attempting to draw generalizations.