MISSION
The International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal (IIPDW) was created to respond to a glaring need in mental health: to develop ways for helping people withdraw from psychiatric drugs.
Mental health has failed to provide support to people who want to reduce or withdraw from their psychiatric drugs. Often, people are simply told it is a bad idea, and thus are left to try to reduce or withdraw without the support they need.
Indeed, psychiatric drugs have been prescribed for 60 years, there is little research that has been conducted on how to withdraw from these drugs. Most of the withdrawal studies that have been conducted have involved abrupt drug withdrawal, and even in studies where the drugs were more gradually withdrawn, there was no effort to identify the needed supports.
The mission of our institute is to bring together practice-based knowledge and research data to fill in this gap. Our goal is to gather such knowledge and disseminate it to patients, family members, professional helpers, professional organizations, and throughout society.
How User Knowledge of Psychotropic Drug Withdrawal Resulted in the Development of Person-specific Tapering Medication
Coming off psychotropic drugs can cause physical as well as mental withdrawal resulting in failed discontinuation attempts and unnecessary long-term drug use. The first reports about withdrawal appeared in the 1950s, but although patients have been complaining about psychotropic withdrawal problems for decades the first – tardive – acknowledgement by psychatry only came in 1997 with the introduction of the ‘antidepressant discontinuation syndrome’. It was not until 2019 that the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists, for the first time, acknowledged that withdrawal can be severe and persistent. By Jim van Os and Peter C Groot.
By donating you will be helping to add to the growing call for a global response to the issues of psychiatric drug withdrawal and iatrogenic harm.
Psychological Support for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal
Auður Axelsdóttir interviews Magnus P. Hald
Podcast interview with Dr Carina Håkansson and Professor John Read
Fears UK Could Follow the US into Opioid Crisis
Royal College of Psychiatrists Changes its Position on Antidepressant Withdrawal
Maund et al.:Managing Antidepressant Discontinuation: A Systematic Review.
Workshop in Norway, Januar 17, 2019 with Carina Håkansson, Magnus Hald and Ottar Ness among others.
OUR AIMS
- Develop research and practice-based knowledge that will facilitate safe reduction of and withdrawal from psychiatric drugs.
- Contribute to evidence-based practices for reduction of and withdrawal from psychiatric drugs, and facilitate their inclusion in general practice guidelines.
- Support the human right to informed choice with regard to psychiatric drugs.
- Promote practices that help families, friends, and practitioners support safe reduction of and withdrawal from psychiatric drugs, and take into account relational and social aspects essential to this process.
CONTACT US
Don’t hesitate to contact us at info@iipdw.org to get to know more about our work.