Millions of people around the world are currently trying to come off psychiatric drugs but finding it extremely difficult because of withdrawal effects which are often severe and persistent, and because there is so little support available to come off the drugs slowly and safely.
International experts gather in Göteborg, Sweden to promote better research on, and support services for, withdrawal from psychiatric drugs
Withdrawal from psychiatric drugs is an issue which is rapidly gaining attention in many parts of the world. For example earlier this month Public Health England published a report calling for services for people struggling to come off antidepressants and benzodiazepines.
Sky News report on Prescribed Drug Dependence ahead of an investigation by Public Health England which looks at the overprescription of drugs with a dependence-forming potential including antidepressants, opioid painkillers and sleeping tablets.
In a recent paper in the journal Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, Michael P. Hengartner, John Read and James Davies summarise the progress made in recent months when making the case that withdrawal from antidepressant drugs is often longer-lasting and more severe than guidelines or conventional wisdom suggest.
In an article for the ‘Bulletin of the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry’, Scott Waterman, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at the University of Vermont, writes about his personal journey through psychiatry over the past several decades.
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.
On May 30 2019, the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists issued a Press Release and Position Statement signalling an acceptance that withdrawal effects from antidepressant drugs were more common and lasted longer than had been previously assumed. The UK media covered this development extensively, with the story being front-page news in The Daily Mail, one …
Thanks to campaigning efforts by the Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has dramatically changed its position on antidepressant withdrawal
Patients are still not being warned how difficult it can be to come off antidepressants, say psychiatrists campaigning for a reduction in the needless use of the drugs.