Cross Posting from r/antidepressants cause someone pointed out Abilify is an antipsychotic and so users may not have experience with it there:

So, I started Abilify 20 days ago. Previous to Abilify I had tried Sertraline (125mg), Citalopram (can't remember dosage), Escitalopram (20mg), Duoloxetine (60mg), Mirtazapine (7.5mg), & Bupropion (100mg). None of the previous meds ever did anything for me.

My psychiatrist has me on 2mg of the Abilify only and my gods is it kicking my arse. So far the three side effects I have been dealing with are increased insomnia in the form of inability to stay asleep (my usual average for sleep is 8-9 hours and since taking this med I am down to 5 or less hours a night), sleepiness (I feel like an exhausted zombie every single day), and occasional nausea. I am also noticing an increase in catastrophic thinking when I am overwhelmed or stressed, and an increase in SH thoughts.

At this point, I wouldn't say my mood is elevated at all, but I do find that I have more motivation to DO stuff. I am watching a new show, I have started a new hobby, I am listening to music again, I started reading a new book, and I am scrolling FB and TikTok less. So, I can tell the medication is doing something.

I guess all of that is to ask if anyone has had similar experiences with Abilify? If not, what were your experiences with it? Did you find that it helped? Did it not? If you suffered from the sleepiness side effect did it ever go away or did you find a way to make it better? Advice is very much welcome!

Thank you! 💜

Further explanation: My psychiatrist is NOT using the Abilify to treat any form of Psychosis. She is using it to treat my major depressive disorder. It is a last ditch effort as I have been on so many other meds that have never worked. Hence why I posted it on the other subreddit first. But I figured I'd post here just in case. 🤷🏻‍♂️