Abstract
The internet is rapidly becoming a first-line source for clinicians and patients alike, and it is increasingly necessary that clinicians maintain an open dialogue with their patients about their information sources. In this paper, I look at the emergence of ‘brain shivers' as a side-effect that appears to have emerged online, in the context of antidepressant side-effects and withdrawal. I discuss possible biological explanations for this strange, possibly new, complaint, as well as the emergence of particular symptoms as a sociological phenomenon aided by new technology.
Highlights
Psychiatrists frequently ask their patients about the presence of adverse effects caused by antidepressants
It is difficult to establish when the term first came into existence, but web pages from 1999 refer to ‘brain shivers’ in relation to antidepressants (Tamburini, 1999)
The term seems to occur most commonly in the context of both use and discontinuation of venlafaxine, it has been associated with most selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
Summary
A number of different descriptions are in use for what appears to be a similar phenomenon. Other terms include: ‘watermelon head’ and ‘electric brain thingies’ (Anonymous, 2004), ‘brain zaps’ (‘dde’, 2003) and ‘brain flips’ (Mangan, 2000). There are cross-cultural variants such as ‘svimmelhed’, from Denmark, which means ‘dizzy’ in English
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