It’s a type of drug<\/a> called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, or SSRI, which effectively increases the amount of serotonin in your body. <\/p>\n This can work to manage a condition by helping someone have a more normal level of serotonin.<\/p>\n However, sertraline does also have some side effects like many medications.<\/p>\n These can include a reduced libido, weight gain, dizziness, and trouble with sleep<\/a>.<\/p>\n But a doctor has also explained about how side effects can impact someone when they come off the medication.<\/p>\n Dr Nikita Amin is a psychologist, and explained the science<\/a> behind why coming off sertraline can lead to one unsettling side effect for some people.<\/p>\n Side effects happen when someone comes off the drug because their body has to revert to the levels of serotonin it had before.<\/p>\n This means that it can be a bad idea to come off a high dose in one go, and instead someone who is stopping should be managed. <\/p>\n Because sertraline can cause trouble sleeping, coming off it can result in a patient having unsettling and vivid dreams, known as ‘REM rebound’.<\/p>\n Dr Amin told Metro<\/a>: “Sertraline works on neurotransmitters like serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Suddenly reducing these levels forces your brain to try and rebalance itself.”<\/p>\n So that can mean you get some vivid and even disturbing dreams when you come off the medication, though Dr Amin stressed that it ‘differs from person to person’.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, on average she said that they tend to be at their most intense for a period of around four and 14 days after someone stops taking sertraline.<\/p>\n She said: “They can last for a few weeks. During this time, the brain is trying to adjust to the new levels of sertraline in the body.<\/p>\n “Within three to six weeks symptoms tend to subside.”<\/p>\n But while having an intense dream can be unpleasant, Dr Amin explained that this isn’t necessarily always the case.<\/p>\n “Vivid dreams can be blissful,” she said. “But due to the intensity of them, they can cause confusion upon waking as they feel very real.”<\/p>\n She added: “Vivid dreams will only become nightmares when they evoke a negative emotion such as fear, anxiety, distress. But they can range from delightful to unsettling.”<\/p>\n If you’re experiencing distressing thoughts and feelings, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is there to support you. They’re open from 5pm\u2013midnight, 365 days a year. Their national number is 0800 58 58 58 and they also have a webchat<\/a> service if you’re not comfortable talking on the phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A doctor has opened up about one of the ‘frightening’ side effects of a common type of mental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[103,61,60,371,410,43,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-409082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-medication","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Sertraline](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/aHR0cHM6Ly9ldS1pbWFnZXMuY29udGVudHN0YWNrLmNvbS92My9hc3NldHMvYmx0Y2Q3NGFjYzFkMGE5OWYzYS9ibHQ4OGRkNTgz.webp\"\/)
Sertraline can be very effective in treating depression (Alina Barilo\/Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Some](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/aHR0cHM6Ly9ldS1pbWFnZXMuY29udGVudHN0YWNrLmNvbS92My9hc3NldHMvYmx0Y2Q3NGFjYzFkMGE5OWYzYS9ibHRiYTBkZTZj.webp\"\/)
Some dreams can feel very real and intense (Klaus Vedfelt\/Getty)<\/p>\n