Withdrawal Research Studies

New guidelines recommend deprescribing benzodiazepine receptor agonists for adults.

A new study by Peter Groot and Jim van Os has found that tapering strips help people successfully discontinue antidepressant medications.

New understandings of medication and withdrawal experiences warrant rethinking conceptualizations of health and “madness."

A new study explores how people manage to discontinue antipsychotic medication and examines how social supports may improve outcomes.

Confronting existential anxiety through “Basal Exposure Therapy” shows promising results in people withdrawing from psychotropic drugs.

Correcting unnecessary long-term antidepressant use is difficult and met with apprehension by providers and service-users.

Researchers interviewed doctors about the barriers that prevent them from being able to decrease excess medications.

Researchers find that support and self-care were helpful for users during discontinuation, but that mental health professionals were not very helpful.

Review study compares outcomes of gradual vs. immediate antipsychotic discontinuation when switching from one drug to another.

A review of the scientific literature related to withdrawal from benzodiazepines, including studies of protracted withdrawal symptoms and risk of relapse related to tapering procedures.

A review of the scientific literature for withdrawal from mood stabilizers: mechanism of action, animal studies, withdrawal symptoms, discontinuation success rates, and relapse rates related to tapering speeds.

A review of the scientific literature related to the withdrawal of antipsychotics: animal studies, withdrawal symptoms, tapering success rates, and consumer accounts of discontinuation.

A review of the scientific literature related to withdrawal from antidepressants: mechanism of action; long-term effects of exposure to antidepressants; discontinuation syndromes; relapse upon discontinuation; tapering protocols.

This guide to the scientific literature on withdrawal from ADHD drugs provides a review of animal studies, withdrawal syndromes, and possible tapering protocols.

Instead of reducing risk, the dose reduction recommendation made by the FDA in their safety message was associated with an increase in hospitalizations.

When Carina Håkansson sent out an invitation for a symposium on "Pharmaceuticals: Risks and Alternatives," some of the world's top scientists, along with experts-by-experience, came from 13 countries to explore better ways to respond to people in crisis.

A team in the Netherlands is currently investigating the effects of tapering off of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy....

Tony Kendrick, a professor of Primary Care at the University of Southampton, has found through his research and practice that too many people are being prescribed antidepressants long-term without the information and support necessary to get off of them.

A new study to be published in the next issue of Schizophrenia Research examines patients suffering from a first-episode of psychosis who stop taking any antipsychotic drugs. The researchers attempt to identify variables that can serve as predictors of the successful discontinuation of antipsychotics. They find, for example, that those who discontinue the drugs have, on average, the same outcomes as those who stay on them, and that those who have better social integration are more likely to discontinue without relapse.

Statistics from the UK reveal that prescriptions for painkillers and antidepressants continue to rise despite concerns over dependence and debilitating withdrawal effects. The British Medical Association (BMA) Board of Science has released a report that acknowledges changes to medical practice, research and policy necessary for addressing the dependence and withdrawal effects of benzodiazepines, opioids, and antidepressants.

In the first systematic review of withdrawal problems that patients experience when trying to get off SSRI antidepressant medications, researchers found that withdrawing from SSRIs was comparable to trying to quit addictive benzodiazepines.

Rather than a "lack of insight," it is actually a thoughtful weighing of complex risks and benefits that ultimately drives some people diagnosed with bipolar disorder to eschew psychiatric medications, according to a qualitative study in the Journal of Affective Disorders. And these people often develop sophisticated strategies in their efforts to manage without medications.

Two South African researchers review scientific understanding of the brain changes that lead to antidepressant discontinuation syndrome (ADS) in Human Psycho-pharmacology: Clinical and Experimental....

Drawing on analysis of data from websites such as Paxilprogress.org, ehealthforum.com, depression forums.org, about.com, medhelp.org, drugLib.com, topic.com and survivingantidepressants.org, researchers from the University of...

Researchers from the Cochrane Center and University of Copenhagen in Denmark, publishing in the May issue of Addiction, "explore the rationale for claiming that...