During the first weeks of taking a new prescription, the link between antidepressants and motivation may be more challenging than you anticipated. You may even experience unpleasant side effects, including sleep disruptions, nausea or weight gain. It’s important to differentiate between sleepiness or drowsiness as a medical symptom and “laziness” — a judgmental term that often carries shame and accusation, even internally. Remember that every medication comes with certain side effects. Balancing the benefits of medications with their potential drawbacks is part of treatment.
What Are Antidepressants?
Understanding your medications is a crucial part of using them effectively, as is recognizing their potential side effects. Along with providing supportive therapies, Restore Mental Health may prescribe antidepressants to treat a range of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, chronic pain and insomnia. Their purpose is to improve mood and emotion by increasing neurotransmitters like serotonin and noradrenaline in the brain. Increasing neurotransmitter levels can disrupt the pain signals sent by nerves, which is why they’re also sometimes prescribed to treat chronic pain.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most commonly prescribed antidepressants because they typically have fewer side effects. Examples of SSRIs include:
- Fluoxetine (Prozac)
- Sertraline (Zoloft)
- Escitalopram (Lexapro)
- Paroxetine (Seroxat)
- Citalopram (Cipramil)
So, do antidepressants cause fatigue? While side effects of these antidepressants vary depending on the person, people often report experiencing drowsiness and fatigue from the medication. Per a 2023 study published in the National Library of Medicine, these effects may be especially pronounced during the first few weeks of starting an SSRI. The study found the body may need up to 6 weeks to adjust to the medication.
According to a 2024 report by the Mayo Clinic, SSRIs are considered to have lower levels of sleep-related side effects than another class of antidepressant medications, tricyclic antidepressants. These tricyclic medications include:
- Amitriptyline
- Doxepin (Silenor, Sinequan)
- Imipramine (Tofranil)
- Trimipramine
Antidepressants and Motivation: The Science
SSRIs like Lexapro work by increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain, impacting a person’s mood, emotions and sleep. After sending a signal, the body will usually reabsorb serotonin into nerve cells through a process referred to as reuptake. However, SSRIs can sometimes be too effective, causing unbalanced levels of serotonin that make it hard to process emotions. While you may not necessarily feel depressed, it may be difficult to feel emotions that cause a high, such as enjoyment or motivation, resulting in emotional blunting.
Emotional blunting occurs in many psychiatric disorders, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia. It’s characterized by the numbing of positive or negative feelings. People may also experience diminished pleasure or interest in activities. A 2023 Cambridge University article reports that up to 40% to 60% of patients who take SSRIs experience some degree of emotional blunting.
If you or someone you know has recently been prescribed an SSRI like Prozac, you may be wondering: Does Prozac make you tired? Like other antidepressants, known side effects mean there’s a chance it will. With this in mind, some people may wonder whether antidepressants are even worth taking. While SSRIs can cause unpleasant side effects, they’re specifically designed to stabilize your day-to-day mood and notably improve emotional turbulence. However, some drowsiness, particularly if it occurs mainly during the first few weeks of a new medication, is a relatively minor offset.
Feeling Flat Versus How You Felt Before the Medication
Depression is one of the most prevalent mental health conditions in the United States and the leading cause of disability worldwide. A 2025 World Health Organization report found as many as 5.7% of adults across the globe suffer from depression episodes. During a depressive episode, a person may experience some of the following symptoms:
- Sadness, irritation or emptiness
- Loss of pleasure or interest in activities
- Poor concentration
- Hopelessness about the future
- Excessive guilt or low self-worth
- Disrupted sleep
- Tiredness or low energy
- Thoughts about death or suicide
If left untreated, depression can become more severe for some people or lead to other mental health conditions such as anxiety. Some symptoms, such as thoughts about death or suicide, can also become life-threatening without treatment. A study cited by the National Library of Medicine in 2024 revealed that about 50 out of 100 individuals who took an antidepressant for moderate to severe depression noticed their symptoms improved within 6 to 8 weeks. With a placebo, symptom improvement dropped considerably, only appearing in 20 to 40 out of 100 people.
While symptoms of depression can worsen or become life-threatening without treatment, side effects such as emotional blunting aren’t likely to get worse.
Is It the Depression or the Medication?
As with all new medications, the best way to recognize and combat side effects is checking in. Daily journaling or mood-tracking apps to record your mental state are helpful for this, as well as discussions with a Restore Mental Health care provider like a therapist or psychologist during your regular visits.
Consistency with your chosen method is important, as the progression (or lack thereof) will help pinpoint whether your symptoms require a different medication, a higher or lower dose or even combination therapies for the best quality of life improvements.
When Should You Talk to Your Doctor?
According to the 2023 SSRI study cited above, it can take anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks of a new antidepressant medication for side effects to “settle.” However, if your suspected side effect symptoms are so severe that you might endanger yourself (e.g., suicidal ideation) or others (e.g., nodding off behind the wheel), contact your prescriber immediately.
Grogginess, dizziness, appetite changes and more are a normal part of medication adjustment, but life-altering negative effects like persistent intrusive thoughts or excessive sleepiness affecting work or school aren’t. Remember, the goal is to feel like your best self, and if your new antidepressant medication is doing more harm than good, it might be time to re-evaluate with your Restore Mental Health providers.
Strategies for Reducing Tiredness
While adjusting to a new antidepressant, you may experience emotional bluntness as a temporary side effect. If you just started your medication and are feeling flat, your doctor may request to see you for a checkup in a few weeks. However, if feeling flat persists for more than 4 to 6 weeks, it may be time to explore potential remedies.
Without or before medical intervention, you may be tempted to “give in” to emotional bluntness or drowsiness and nap or lie around all day. If you’re able to, try some conscious DIY interventions like these strategies:
- Take a nap. A brief nap may be enough to increase your energy and leave you feeling refreshed. Try snoozing for only about 20 minutes during the day — napping too long may increase grogginess.
- Exercise. Even if moving is the last thing you feel like doing, working out can actually reduce fatigue. Try engaging in low-intensity exercise, such as a leisurely walk around the neighborhood. You may find it perks you up just enough to make it through the day.
- Take medications at night. Unless your doctor specifically instructs you to take the medication in the morning or afternoon, wait until bedtime. Taking your antidepressant at night may help you fall asleep more easily and get enough rest to feel more alert during the day.
- Give it time. This may be hard to do, but waiting it out may result in reduced symptoms. Side effects from an antidepressant usually fade over time as your body adjusts to the medication.
Many SSRIs are available, all of which impact people differently. It may take time to find the perfect match for your condition; trying a few different types is normal for many new patients we see at Restore Mental Health.
Seek Mental Health Treatment
So, will antidepressants leave you feeling a little listless at first? It’s very possible. If they do, try not to panic: Chances are those effects will fade with time and you’ll be enjoying the benefits of the right medication for your needs sooner than you think. If you’re worried about antidepressant side effects or feel the medication isn’t working, professional help is available. Contact Restore today to speak with a trained counselor and learn more about the services we offer.
