The Truth About Antidepressants and Personality Change

Do antidepressants change your personality? It depends…

This is one of the most common questions I am asked by patients who are considering antidepressant medication. People worry, "Will it make me into a different person? If antidepressants affect the brain, what else could they do? Will I no longer care about things?" The answer is that antidepressant medications restore a person’s underlying personality that has been altered by mental illness.

What is personality?

Personality encompasses a set of patterns of how we think, behave and interact with others, and over time is enduring and consistent. Personality can be influenced by genetic as well as environmental factors. In Circumplex Models of Personality and Emotions, Dr. Robert Plutchik explains that personality traits and emotions are integrally connected (Plutchik, 1997). He notes that the same language is often used to describe emotions and personality. We perceive some people as upbeat, energetic and optimistic while others present as low energy, unmotivated and unhappy. Some may be described as chronic worriers, or as risk-takers or as adventurous. Plutchik writes, “Whether we call a condition an emotion or a personality trait is generally a matter of time frame…both emotions and personality traits have similar functional roles; that is, they influence and attempt to regulate social interactions” (Plutchik, 1997).

Mental illness can alter personality

Mental illness, such as depression or anxiety, is biologically based just like medical illness such as diabetes, hypertension or cancer. However, mental illness is unique in its profound effects on thought patterns and behaviors. Untreated depression can change a person’s personality.

Medical illnesses are generally diagnosed using metrics such as blood tests, x-rays, and scans. In contrast, depression is diagnosed by subjectively reported changes in a person’s emotions and objectively observed changes in personality and behavior. A cheerful, optimistic person may become uncharacteristically gloomy, disinterested and unable to experience joy. Someone typically calm and easygoing may obsess over worst case scenarios, such as being fired from a job or experiencing social rejection. Even when there is awareness that the worries are out of proportion, the anxiety often feels overwhelming and relentless. Those suffering from depression may become reclusive and stop responding to calls or texts; socializing can feel nearly impossible. Often there is extreme irritability and quickness to anger.

Untreated depression is bad for the brain

Untreated depression can last for months and in some cases years. The longer the depression lasts, the more the brain acclimates to existing in that negative state. Untreated depression may become chronic and lead to long term, enduring alterations in a person’s thoughts, behaviors and emotions.

Depression ambushes personality

In Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, Pulitzer Prize winning author William Styron depicted his harrowing personal battle with depression. He writes of feeling his brain is inhabited by a foreign personality. “A phenomenon that a number of people have noted while in deep depression is the sense of being accompanied by a second self — a wraithlike observer who, not sharing the dementia of his double, is able to watch with dispassionate curiosity as his companion struggles against the oncoming disaster” (Styron, W., 1990).

Patients can regain their natural underlying personality with antidepressants. These medications bolster resilience and coping abilities, allowing people to reengage with their social network. Typically normal sleep patterns are restored and appetite becomes better regulated. Reactivity is decreased so things roll off their back more easily. It is often quite noticeable to family and close friends, both when a person becomes symptomatic, and when that person recovers. Antidepressants can dramatically shorten depressive episodes leading to recovery within weeks as opposed to the natural course of depression which is often much longer.

There are times when a particular antidepressant is not effective or causes intolerable side effects. In those cases the antidepressant should be changed. For more on how to reduce trial and error with antidepressants, please see my previous article Can Genetic Testing Reveal the Right Antidepressant (Plutchik, L., 2024).

Medication and therapy can complement one another

Marianna Strongin, Psy.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologist and owner of private practice Strong In Therapy, uses an evidence-based approach to antidepressant recommendations for patients (M. Strongin, personal communication, August 24, 2025). She explains that acute symptoms of anxiety, dissociation or depression can compromise patients’ capacity to engage in meaningful therapy. She educates patients on how antidepressants can complement therapy to help them achieve their goals and enable the interventions to be most effective. This process often reduces the fear and resistance around starting medication.

Personality Essential Reads

Getting Older Can Mean Your Personality Is Getting Better

Who Do People Think They Are?

According to Dr. Strongin, “When a patient responds well to medication, there is often a gliding effect in therapy. Material that was previously intolerable or overwhelming can suddenly be processed, integrated, and reflected upon with greater ease. Patients are able to use the therapeutic space more productively, challenging themselves and engaging in more flexible and critical thinking.”

She typically notices shifts in affect, mood, and relational capacity once a patient reaches a therapeutic dosage. Motivation is restored as they return to their baseline, the version of themselves that is less burdened by symptoms of depression or anxiety. The true goal of antidepressant treatment is to reduce symptoms so that a person’s authentic personality can come through more clearly.