1. Be clear about your reason(s) for wanting to switch antidepressants. Is it that the side effects are intolerable, or is it that you are not satisfied with the response? If you want to switch for the latter reason, you need to determine exactly what you mean and communicate that to your doctor. Did you antidepressant ever work fully? Bear in mind that you need to give the medication up to four weeks before you would definitely be seeing an improvement. Or did it lift your mood to some extent and then plateau? That’s called a partial response. In first case, your doctor will probably be open to your switching to a new antidepressant. If it’s the latter, however, your doctor may want to raise the dose or possibly augment your current antidepressant with another medication.
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