MIA Articles about Psychiatric Drugs and Withdrawal

A researcher and service user Stevie Lewis recounts her own experience with antidepressant withdrawal and what she wishes her doctors knew.

Peter Gøtzsche gives advice on what withdrawal symptoms may look like and explains the dangers of—and alternatives to—forced treatment.

Withdraw from psychiatric drugs at your own speed—according to what you feel. Don’t reduce again before you feel stabilised on the previous dose.

Psychiatrists have made hundreds of millions of people dependent on psychiatric drugs and yet have done virtually nothing to find out how to help the patients come off them again.

“Short and simple psychological programs can prevent people from relapsing when they stop their antidepressants.”

Very few doctors know anything about withdrawal and make horrible mistakes. If they taper at all, they do it far too quickly because the few guidelines that exist recommend far too quick tapering.

Anti-stigma campaigns reinforce a belief that people with mental health issues must have treatment and thus, push discussion of withdrawal and negative aspects of psychiatric drugs into anonymous spaces.

Researchers find a lack of current literature on safe, effective ways to manage antidepressant withdrawal and make suggestions for future research.

MIA's Richard Sears interviews psychotherapist Anne Guy about working with clients withdrawing from psychiatric drugs.

A new article discusses the lack of research dedicated to discontinuing psychiatric drugs and reviews existing strategies.

After 15 years, the founder of SurvivingAntidepressants.org, Adele Framer, shares what she has learned about the science of withdrawing from psychiatric drugs.

Adverse physiological symptoms of antidepressant withdrawal are regularly mistaken to be other problems to the detriment of the patient.

Qualitative study finds that both internal resources and systemic factors play a role in antipsychotic discontinuation outcomes.

Online communities are stepping in to help people facing withdrawal effects amass information and receive support for their withdrawal experiences.

Protracted Withdrawal Syndrome characterized by long-term adverse experiences after coming off of antidepressants.

Prescribers are taught to prescribe psychiatric medication, but they are often not well-educated about the effects on patients of discontinuing these medications.

Patient advocates join with researchers and service users to present first-hand experiences of antidepressant withdrawal.

“My life was very, very good.” That’s how Michael sums up how things were for him—prior to his suffering from devastating withdrawal effects after discontinuing GlaxoSmithKline’s blockbuster drug Paxil.

Medically-induced harm—affecting tens of millions of people worldwide—has taken the field decades to take seriously.

If academic psychiatry is evidence-based, why did it take two decades to recognize SSRI withdrawal as widespread and chronic among patients?

A new study by Peter Groot and Jim van Os investigated whether tapering strips can help people stop using antidepressants.

A new review of strategies to support both patients and practitioners through the process of discontinuing antidepressants.

Trials of antidepressants for relapse prevention are confounded by withdrawal effects caused by the drugs.

Neuropsychological assessments reveal the cognitive, occupational, and social impact of polypharmacy in psychiatry.

Peter Gøtzsche and Anders Sørensen on trying to get a review of methods for safe antidepressant withdrawal published in Cochrane: "They sent us on a mission that was impossible to accomplish" to "protect the psychiatric guild."