Zoloft and Anxiety:
A Closer Look at Zoloft and Anxiety

You know it as the prescription drug Zoloft, and that anxiety is one of its primary targets. Its official name, however, is Sertraline. It's been used an antidepressant since 1992, but Zoloft and anxiety were not paired off until much later.

Zoloft is a member of the SSRI--selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors--family of drugs. SSRIs work by increasing the brain’s levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which has a great affect on your ability to feel good, and to engage in the behaviors which make you feel good. And when you can’t feel good, you’re depressed. So Zoloft, by balancing its users’ serotonin levels, became a very successful anti-depressant.

But Zoloft and anxiety were not teamed until a decade later, when, in 2002, Pfizer announced that Zoloft was the first SSRI to get FDA approval for use in adult patients suffering from social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Approval of Zoloft and anxiety treatment in children was limited to that of obsessive-compulsive disorder. But in 2004, the FDA issued a warning which shed serious doubt on the wisdom of coupling Zoloft and anxiety. The FDA’s recommendation was that use of ten SSRIs, including Zoloft, as treatment for depression be closely monitored because of evidence that the drugs caused deeper depression and significantly increased risk of suicide in those users. The FDA also asked the manufacturers of the drugs to include cautions about increased suicide risk on their labels.

The problem with Zoloft and anxiety is that depression and anxiety disorders very often occur in the same person. To prescribe Zoloft as a treatment for either may aggravate the symptoms of both. Because anxiety itself is one of the lesser-known side effects of Zoloft, Zoloft and anxiety sufferers are just not a good mix.

There have even been reports that Zoloft users who decided to stop taking the drug experienced such painful withdrawal symptoms that they became suicidal. Those symptoms included--you guessed it--anxiety, as well as agitation, insomnia, nightmares, seizure, confusion, and aggression.

The battle over Zoloft and anxiety has been joined in the courts, in the form of suits against Pfizer. One of those, which settled out of court, involved the 2002 suicide of an 11-year old boy and was a factor in the FDA’s request to have manufacturers put cautions on SSRI labels.

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