Could Strattera Be the Magic Pill My Easily Stressed Wife Needs?

Reader’s Question

I am a single dad with two children. It wasn’t always that way, but their mother simply can’t deal with them. She only has them 4 days per month but still seems to have difficulty handling them because they stress her out so much.

I started seeing the children’s mother 12 years ago. We had a good relationship, but it did have it’s difficulties. She was the youngest of seven children, and it appeared she was spoiled. If she didn’t get what she wanted, it usually meant I got an earful.

We had our first child after 5 years. After two months I would get calls at work from her screaming that she could not take our daughter’s crying. I would have to leave work for fear she might do something impulsive or harmful to the child. I eventually had to ask her to leave out of concern for our child. She left for a month before coming back.

We struggled for a few years before having our second child. The same thing happened again, but it also eventually led to her going out and partying to forget about the stress. I again asked her to leave.

This bring us to now. I have raised the children for several years on my own. She sees them every other weekend. She still calls me so angry after dealing with them that she says she will never take them again.

She has been on Celexa for several years now. It had a slight effect, but she forgets to take it until she explodes, then goes back on it for awhile. She also alternates from saying that she is a bad person to complaining that everything is all my fault.

While she has been diagnosed with anger problems, I have been told she might have ADHD. The forgetfulness, the inability to finish tasks, and the mood swings all seem to point that way. A friend who had similar symptoms was prescribed Strattera. This woman went from being an angry, depressed person, to the happiest she has ever been. She is now focused on her education and happy about life.

Could Strattera possibly be the answer? I would love for my kids to have a happy mother who wants to spend time with them. I’m looking for a professional opinion.

Psychologist’s Reply

Strattera (generic name: atomoxetine) is a non-stimulant drug and norepinephrine (adrenaline) re-uptake inhibitor. It was originally designed as an antidepressant drug, but clinical trials failed to demonstrate its effectiveness in that area and there has been some concern over its potential to increase suicidal ideation in some depressed individuals. It has been used primarily as a treatment for ADHD and, as a non-stimulant drug, has the added benefit of carrying a low risk for abuse.

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Some clinicians and experimental studies have reported that Strattera might be a valuable treatment for depression when combined with other antidepressant drugs in the regimen, especially with respect to compulsive behaviors such as binge eating. Because of it’s capacity to increase supplies of norepinephrine, some suspect it might be beneficial in increasing stress tolerance and overall energy, but there are no clinical studies that back up this notion.

Low stress-tolerance and poor impulse control can result from a variety of factors. And while it’s tempting to think that somewhere out there a “magic pill” exists to erase such problems, this is not usually the case. Your wife exhibits many signs of significant personality dysfunction, and there may likely be a host of biochemical, constitutional, and characterological factors contributing to the problems. She is most likely in need of consistent, long-term, comprehensive psychological care.

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