Tag: ssri withdrawal

MITUK Editor: On July 20th, psychiatrist Professor Joanna Moncrieff, whose work appears regularly on this site, published a review article along with colleagues Dr...

Do we take enough account of total drug exposure time when devising antidepressant tapering strategies?

Our new discussion series aims to explore what we do and don’t know about safe withdrawal from antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines and stimulants. We will seek to present and explore new understandings emerging from professional and lived-experience communities. We will discuss the knowledge, skills and experience necessary to support those having difficulty getting off psychiatric drugs.

We discuss the release of guidance which has been specifically written to support UK psychological therapists and their clients in having discussions about taking and withdrawing from psychiatric drugs. The guidance is a collaboration between psychologists, peer support specialists and psychiatrists and aims to provide important context and evidence-based support to psychological therapists.

Withdrawal from psychiatric drugs is an issue which is rapidly gaining attention in many parts of the world, yet professional medical circles can sometimes be remote from the discussion. The International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal (IIPDW) was created in 2017 to respond to the need to widen the debate and to develop ways to assist people withdrawing safely from psychiatric drugs.