Key points
SSRIs have been prescribed for decades in pregnancy, so why the never-ending debate about their safety?
Updated research affirms that the benefit of SSRIs in pregnancy for those who need them outweigh the risks.
Untreated depression or anxiety in pregnancy has significant risks—greater than taking SSRIs.
Antidepressants in pregnancy have been studied about as much as any medication in pregnancy, and much more than most. That Tylenol or antihistamine you took while pregnant? Not much investigated. Antibiotic or anti-nausea meds? There haven’t been as many studies of those as SSRIs in pregnancy either, yet they’re offered to pregnant women without hesitation.
Antidepressants, though? More specifically, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors—SSRIs— (and to a lesser exten