Not Clear if Antidepressants Cause Hair Loss

Misbar's investigation found that the most common cause of hair loss is hereditary pattern baldness, which is a natural condition.

A study published in the journal International Clinical Pharmacology compares data with the risk of hair loss among similar people who were not prescribed antidepressants.

The study doesn’t tell us whether taking antidepressants increase the risk of hair loss or even lowers it.

The research only compares the risk among different drugs. And even these comparisons are uncertain because the people who take these different drugs might have a different risk of hair loss anyway, for reasons that the researchers could not account for.

Hair loss, also called alopecia, can be caused by many things, including stress and a wide variety of different drugs.

It is listed as an uncommon side effect of some modern antidepressants, but the evidence around the link is unclear, and it is not supported by the research described in this article.

Dr. Tracy Davenport, the founder of Tracyshealthyliving.com, told Misbar, there are many reasons for hair loss, including diet or illness as well.

“There is also an association between some mental disorders and hair loss, especially if conditions such as bipolar or severe depression make you pull at your hair, not sleep well, eat well,” she added.

Dr. Davenport explained that not all antidepressants lead to hair loss, which makes the circulating claim misleading.

John Elflein, a research expert in health and healthcare, published in 2020 that about 50 percent of patients in the U.S. who use medication for anxiety or insomnia also use an antidepressant.

In conclusion, there is no evidence that antidepressants are directly linked to hair loss.