Systematic Review Finds Antidepressant Withdrawal Common and Potentially Long-lasting
Prominent researchers conduct a review of antidepressant withdrawal incidence, duration, and severity. Results lead to call for new clinical guidelines.
Antidepressant Use Climbs as Patients Find it Difficult to Discontinue
Findings point to the role of withdrawal symptoms and prescriber practices in long-term antidepressant use.
New Research on Patient-Centered Deprescribing for Antipsychotics
Researchers review the risks and benefits of deprescribing from antipsychotic drugs and advocate for a patient-centered approach to tapering.
Envisioning Psychiatric Drug Freedom
Psychiatric meds can shut down the emotions and consciousness enough to make it possible to tolerate dynamics that would inspire rage or surges of empowered activity without the meds. It can be helpful to look closely at these blocks and start to create a map to freedom, understanding that it is a complex process that involves not only the physiology of the body of the individual taking meds, but the architecture of the social system around that person.
Study Shows Success With Reduced Antipsychotic Use
People who reduced antipsychotic use by tapering were doing just as well after five years as those who continued using the drugs.
Study of Online Antidepressant Forums Reveals Long Lasting Withdrawal Effects
Effects of discontinuing SSRIs and SNRIs reported on an online forum indicate significant and long-lasting withdrawal symptoms.
New Clinical Guidelines on Deprescribing Benzodiazepines
New guidelines recommend deprescribing benzodiazepine receptor agonists for adults.
Tapering Strips Help People Discontinue Antidepressants
A new study by Peter Groot and Jim van Os has found that tapering strips help people successfully discontinue antidepressant medications.
Social Support Improves Antipsychotic Discontinuation, Study Finds
A new study explores how people manage to discontinue antipsychotic medication and examines how social supports may improve outcomes.
Letter to The New York Times: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Can’t Quit
Ten years ago, the recent New York Times article entitled “Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Can’t Quit” would have shocked me. I would have dismissed serious medication withdrawal as rare. But I tell my patients something different today.
“How Did This Happen?” – Being Injured By Pharmaceuticals Once Again
How did it happen to me? It happened because none of us have enough resources for the sort of brain injury and impairment the psychopharmaceutical drugs impart upon us. No one knows what is really being done to our brains and some of us are clearly more sensitive than others.
10 Things I Learned in 5 Years Consulting With People Coming Off Psych Drugs
It's been over 5 years since I started offering non-medical consultations to people in the process of coming off or hoping to come off psych drugs. I wanted to share here some things I have learned in this process. Despite how far we have come, we have a long way to go in the quest to liberate all who wish to be liberated from psychiatry.
Existential Therapy Assists Patients Withdrawing From Psychiatric Drugs
Confronting existential anxiety through “Basal Exposure Therapy” shows promising results in people withdrawing from psychotropic drugs.
A Tale of Two Studies
With increasing evidence that psychiatric drugs do more harm than good over the long term, the field of psychiatry often seems focused on sifting through the mounds of research data it has collected, eager to at last sit up and cry, here’s a shiny speck of gold! Our drugs do work! One recently published study on withdrawal of antipsychotics tells of long-term benefits. A second tells of long-term harm. Which one is convincing?
A Massachusetts Benzo Bill That Mandates Informed Consent
H. 3594 would require pharmacists to distribute pamphlets containing information on benzodiazepine misuse and abuse, risk of dependency and addiction, handling and addiction treatment resources. This would be a major legislative response to the prescribing patterns for these drugs today.
Learning About Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal
We held the first course ever on psychiatric drug withdrawal on 12 June 2017 in Copenhagen. The course was open to patients, relatives, psychologists, doctors and other social and healthcare workers, and 77 people participated.
Replacing Pain with Pain: Hazards of Antidepressant Use for Chronic Pain Relief
The paradox of relieving chronic pain with an antidepressant (and a new set of symptoms).
How to Avoid Severe SSRI Withdrawal Symptoms?
After long-term use, most people are going to have serious symptoms when stopping SSRIs. Many people are going to have transient, mild to moderate difficulty and some are going to end up falling down the akathisia rabbit hole. That is a long, difficult drop.
New Study Examines User Experience of Discontinuing Psychiatric Medications
Researchers find that support and self-care were helpful for users during discontinuation, but that mental health professionals were not very helpful.
When Switching Antipsychotics, No Difference Between Immediate and Gradual Discontinuation
Review study compares outcomes of gradual vs. immediate antipsychotic discontinuation when switching from one drug to another.
African American and Hispanic Youth Discontinue ADHD Treatment at Higher Rates than White Youth
Study examines racial and ethnic disparities in the quality of care for Medicaid-enrolled children starting ADHD medication.
Danish Study Finds Better 10-year Outcomes in Patients Off Antipsychotics
Study finds that 74% of patients with a psychotic disorder off antipsychotics at end of 10 years are in remission.
Prescribing Benzodiazepines As-Needed Leads to Abuse
A new study reported on in Medscape, examined risk factors for misuse of benzodiazepines (drugs such as Xanax, Ativan, and Klonopin). The researchers found that patients who had been prescribed the medication on an as-needed basis were more likely to end up abusing it than those who had been prescribed a standing dose.
