Last year we sent out a questionnaire with our annual newsletter and had a fantastic response (thank you!), with over 2500 people completing them.
Researchers found that some drugs may affect mood.
One of the questionnaires asked individuals if they had ever noticed if any drugs had affected their mood. A fourth year medical student at the University of Birmingham, Steve Crockett, took a year out of his medical degree to take an intercalated BMedSc in Psychological Medicine and analysed the questionnaire responses for his research project. Steve looked for patterns in the questionnaire responses (lots of people reporting the same drugs having the same effect on their mood).
Researchers found that some drugs may affect mood. The most common groups of drugs that people reported had an effect on their mood were:
- antihistamines
- cardiovascular drugs
- contraceptives and hormonal replacement therapy (HRT)
- painkillers
- statins.
Looking at how these drugs work in the body may give us clues to new biological pathways involved in mood disorders. We are currently working on taking the findings forward and will update you on our progress as we go.