The third, updated and expanded ebook edition of “Coming off Psychiatric Drugs: Successful withdrawal from neuroleptics, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, Ritalin and tranquilizers” is now available.
This is the first conference of the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal, and will bring together international experts in the field, and leaders from many different countries. The three themes underpinning the conference are safe withdrawal from psychiatric medication, alternatives to psychiatric medication, and the need to question the dominance of medication in mental health care.
Antidepressant tapering strips to help people come off medication more safely. Psychosis 2018, VOL. 10, NO. 2, 142–145
Traduzione a cura di Maria Antonietta Binetti e Marcello Macario
A practical guide to drug withdrawal. Sørensen A, Rüdinger B, Gøtzsche PC and Toft B. Traduzione a cura di Luca Iaboli e Giuseppe Tibaldi
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.
This week on MIA Radio we turn our attention to support for those who are struggling to withdraw from psychiatric drugs. Recently in the UK, this issue has become headline news with more and more attention being given to the work of groups such as the Council for Evidence Based Psychiatry and peer-led initiatives such as the Bristol Tranquilliser Project.
A brief update on some recent developments regarding psychologist prescribing rights and licensing psychotropic drugs.
Auður Axelsdóttir and Magnus P. Hald discuss his work and the development of a drug free psychiatric ward in Norway.
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.
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.