Abilify, a popular antipsychotic medication, has been increasingly linked with serious addiction problems like gambling and shopping.

These conditions can be, at the least, disruptive to a person’s life, and at the worst, mentally and financially crippling.

What is Abilify?

Abilify (also known by its generic name, aripiprazole) is an antipsychotic drug jointly developed and manufactured by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb. It’s one of several medications known as dopamine receptor agonists.

Abilify is used in the treatment of a variety of mental disorders, including schizophrenia and depression. Since its approval, Ability has skyrocketed in popularity, bringing in billions of dollars annually.

Despite its popularity, Abilify has been linked with some serious addiction side effects.

Abilify has been tied to serious and continuous impulse control problems, which can manifest in addictions like shopping and gambling.

Not only can compulsive gambling and shopping problems be disruptive in a person’s daily life, but they can easily have a dramatic effect on a person’s or family’s financial matters.

A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine linked Abilify and other dopamine receptor agonists with such impulse control problems as gambling, sex addiction, and compulsive shopping.

Most medications have some kind of side effects, such as nausea, rashes, or other physical manifestations.

Abilify’s addiction side effects may not seem like typical drug complications, but these side effects can quickly have dramatic impacts on the lives of Abilify users and their families.

Like physical side effects associated with other medications, addiction complications can have the power to tear apart a patient’s life.

For instance, shopping and gambling addictions can cost both a patient and their family a great deal of money, sometimes sending them into deep debt.

Compulsive gambling can be so severe that people who suffer from it are driven to gamble even when they do not have the financial capacity to do so.

Because of this, some gamble with credit cards or borrow money, which can land patients in extremely steep debt. This debt may not cause physical harm, but it can ruin lives.

On top of these financial issues, these compulsive behaviors can tear a person away from their family, making them unable to function as they normally would.

Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to fight and reverse impulse control problems linked with Abilify and return to normal life.

On top of this, even when patients do manage to recover from the mental effects of compulsive behaviors, they may still be left with severe financial consequences.

These Abilify side effects reportedly occur in patients who have no history of impulse behavior problems prior to ingesting the drug.

One of the major problems with compulsive gambling and other impulse problems is that it is extremely difficult to stop and return to normal life without getting professional help.

Abilify Side Effects Lawsuits

An increasing number of reports of impulse control problems have been filed over Abilify in recent months. More still have been filed over the dopamine receptor agonist class in general.

Abilify and similar drugs are currently being investigated in the United States to determine Abilify side effects. Similar drugs, other dopamine receptor agonists, have been targeted in other lawsuits.

A dopamine receptor agonist lawsuit filed in Australia over the drugs Casaber and Dostinex, was recently settled for millions of dollars. This lawsuit included over 170 Australian patients who have experienced major impulse control behaviors because of drugs like Abilify.

If you or someone you know has been impacted by impulse control behaviors like compulsive shopping after taking Abilify or a similar antipsychotic drug, you may be eligible to file an Abilify side effects lawsuit.