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Anti-depressants may affect driving
Psychologists Holly Dannewitz and Tom Petros recruited 60 people to participate in a driving simulation in which participants had to make a series of common driving decisions -- such as reacting to brake lights, stop signs or traffic signals while being distracted by speed limit signs, pylons, animals, other cars, helicopters or bicyclists.
The simulation tested steering, concentration and scanning. Thirty-one of the participants were taking at least one type of antidepressant while 29 control group members were taking no medications.
The group taking antidepressants was further divided into those who scored higher and lower on a test of depression. The group taking antidepressants who reported a high number of symptoms of depression performed significantly worse than the control group, but participants taking antidepressants who scored in the normal range for depression performed no differently than the non-medicated subjects.
"Individuals taking antidepressants should be aware of the possible cognitive effects as (they) may affect performance in social, academic and work settings, as well as driving abilities," the researchers said in a statement.
The study was presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Boston.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
This news arrived on: 08/18/2008
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Posted Comments:
08-21-2008 18:23
Melody Yaneza wrote:
not a good idea
I believe that anti-depressants put a person to sleep. So taking a dosage while driving does not seem like a wise idea.
08-19-2008 18:01
Cathy Robinson wrote:
Anti-depressants affecting driving
After reading your article, I fail to see where anti-depressants had affected anyones driving. You stated that the group which were on anti-depressants but were still depressed had a slower reaction time. You also said that the group that was on anti-depressants but were not depressed and the group that were not on meds and were not depressed drove normally. What that tells me is that depression may affect driving. Why didn't you do a study on people that were depressed but not taking anti-depressants?
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