Effects of concomitant benzodiazepines and antidepressants long-term use on perspective-taking

Abstract

Background: Benzodiazepines and antidepressants are known to alter responses to empathic pain when used alone, however the effects of their combined use on empathy are unknown. In order to examine the effects of concomitant benzodiazepines and antidepressants long-term use on perspective-taking, we analyzed behavioral and neural changes on perspective-taking ability using event-related potentials. Methods: To this purpose, 13 long-term concomitant benzodiazepines and antidepressants users and 13 healthy controls performed a task designed to assess affective perspective-taking with simultaneous EEG recording. Results: The behavioral results revealed similar performance between groups. The neural results showed no significant differences between groups for the N170 and late positive potential (LPP) components. These results seem to suggest that long-term use of benzodiazepines and antidepressants together does not affect perspective-taking abilities nor the processing of related information. Conclusions: The concomitant benzodiazepines and antidepressants long-term use seem to preserve the perspective-taking ability of social cognition.