Tag: withdrawal

A new study looks at how online communities provide information and support for patients experiencing psychiatric drug withdrawal.

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.

Researchers review a new synthesis of the existing evidence and conclude that the harms of antidepressants outweigh any benefits.

New strategies for tapering psychiatric drugs achieved by acknowledging withdrawal symptoms and valuing service-users’ first-hand knowledge.

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

After suffering PTSD in the late 1980s, I reluctantly accepted antidepressants. In time, I had resolved the trauma, but when I tried to stop the antidepressants (Prozac, and later Zoloft), I assumed my desperate feelings and “return” of depression were an indication I had an imbalance and needed those drugs. I didn’t understand I was experiencing withdrawal. (I was never told that for most people, psychiatric medications need to be tapered.)

Recent claims about antidepressant effectiveness have been based on misleading statements and misunderstandings of the science.

Researchers examine how rapid discontinuation can mimic the relapse of mental health symptoms and confound psychiatric drug studies.

A new article in Lancet Psychiatry finds that slower tapering of SSRIs is better for preventing antidepressant withdrawal effects.

An international group of researchers, including several with financial ties to manufacturers of antidepressants, explore possible explanations for why long-term users of antidepressants become chronically depressed.

Psychiatrist and psychologist outline pharmacological and psychotherapeutic strategies for discontinuing antidepressants.

Mixed-Methods study explores the experiences of antipsychotic discontinuation among service users.

New research suggests that clinicians should exercise caution prescribing SNRIs as first-line treatment for mood and anxiety disorders.

Prominent researchers conduct a review of antidepressant withdrawal incidence, duration, and severity. Results lead to call for new clinical guidelines.

Findings point to the role of withdrawal symptoms and prescriber practices in long-term antidepressant use.

Effects of discontinuing SSRIs and SNRIs reported on an online forum indicate significant and long-lasting withdrawal symptoms.

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.

Long-term benzodiazepine use shown to effect cognitive function during current use and for years after drug discontinuation.

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

Being in antidepressant withdrawal, I had come to feel very isolated and alone. What I needed was to hear real experiences of people who, like me, have struggled with the very drugs that they believed were going to help them. It was time to create a podcast.

From the Council for Evidence-Based Psychiatry: A major national newspaper is looking for people in the UK willing to share recent stories of negative effects...