Let's Talk Withdrawal

Tina talks about her experience with depression, her use of antidepressant drugs and how a change in her medication led to her withdrawal problems.

Dr. Gary Sidley worked within NHS mental health services for 33 years in a variety of nursing, psychological and managerial roles. In the 1980s...

Meghann describes starting antidepressant drugs for OCD at the age of 9, how she came to consider her withdrawal after 17 years and how she feels now, 2 years after finishing with the drugs.

Megan talks about her experience with anxiety and insomnia, her attempts to withdraw from her medications and how she approached her tapering more carefully to minimise withdrawal effects.

Doctor Lucy Johnstone talks about our reliance on the concept of diagnosis, how that doesn't fit well with psychological or emotional distress and how a predominantly biomedical view of tends to lead to a purely medication centred approach to mental healthcare.

We discuss Robert's 2010 book, Anatomy of an Epidemic, which is arguably the definitive account of the realities of psychiatric drugs and completely lays bare the astonishing rise in mental ill health despite the availability of psychiatric drugs.

Judy Meyer is a holistic mental health practitioner, mental health advocate and founder of the Alternative Health Revolution.

Elaine has taken antidepressant and stimulant drugs for anxiety, she describes feeling humiliated and judged by her psychiatrists rather than helped.

Susie tells us about her experiences of stopping her antidepressant drug cold turkey after 2 years of taking it and how her doctors failed to identify antidepressant withdrawal.

Professor Peter Gøtzsche is Director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Denmark and discusses his background in research, his views on antidepressant prescribing and how pharmaceutical manufacturers have influenced mental healthcare.

David has taken antidepressant drugs on and off over the last few years and talks about his experiences of the mental healthcare system.

Doctor Terry Lynch is a GP, psychotherapist, author and mental health educator. Ten years into his career as a GP, he became very concerned about the medical approach to emotional and mental suffering and was not prepared to remain silent.

We discuss Doctor Moncrieff’s work to address the realities of psychiatric drugs and the groundbreaking RADAR study which focuses on antipsychotic drugs.

Stevie describes her experiences taking antidepressant drugs and her severe and protracted reaction to trying to withdraw.

Doctor David Healy from Bangor University in Wales talks about prescribing practice, medicine safety and pharmaceutical regulation.

Daryl, who was only 9 years old when he was taken into mental health services and medicated, talks about being made to take both antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs and he describes the lies told to him to justify treatment.

Marion Brown is Psychotherapist who works with the Human Givens approach to supporting people in emotional or psychological distress, she has become increasingly concerned about the effects of psychotropic medications on patients.

Christopher describes his transformational journey starting with a very difficult childhood which led him to be treated for many years with various psychiatric medications. After successfully withdrawing, he now works a Program Manager for Heart & Soul inc in California, an organisation which offers a variety of mental health recovery-oriented and wellness support opportunities.

Nora tells us about the sudden and extreme adverse reactions that occurred immediately upon starting her antidepressant. She also tells us about the attitude of her doctors and how her life has changed since that short course of treatment.

Holly Higgins shares her experiences of the psychiatric system and psychiatric drugs, how she approached withdrawal from the drugs and talks about how she became a nutritional therapy practitioner.

Chaya Grossberg shares her own experiences of the psychiatric system and how she now helps and supports those struggling to withdraw from their psychiatric medications.

Sinead has taken antidepressant drugs for the last 16 years and attempted to withdraw on several occasions, she describes the challenges that she faced.

Claire shares her powerful story of being prescribed antidepressants at the age of 16 and her experiences of trying to withdraw., describing how she tapered gradually over 2 years, but went on to experience SSRI discontinuation syndrome

We talk to Giovanna from Australia who was prescribed an antidepressant aged 17 and tried many times to withdraw over the next 23 years. She shares her experiences with us including the advice and support that she received and her hopes for the future.

Doctor Peter Groot from the User Research Center of the Maastricht University talks about Tapering Strips, which help users who want to withdraw from their psychiatric drugs safely and in a controlled way.