‘What I have learned from helping thousands of patients taper’

A new article published in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology provides a clear and accessible summary of what Adele Framer has learned from helping thousands of patients taper their antidepressants and other psychotropic medications, in her role as founder and operator of the online peer-support forum SurvivingAntidepressants.org.

Although psychiatric drug withdrawal syndromes have been recognised since the 1950s, medical information about how to safely go off the drugs has been lacking. To fill this gap, over the last 25 years, patients have developed a robust Internet-based subculture of peer support for tapering off psychiatric drugs.

This account from the founder of one such online community,  SurvivingAntidepressants.org, covers lessons learned from thousands of patients regarding common experiences including:

• with medical providers
• identification of adverse drug reactions
• risk factors for withdrawal
• tapering techniques
• withdrawal symptoms
• protracted withdrawal syndrome
• strategies to cope with symptoms

For the full article, click here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2045125321991274

Framer, A. (2021). What I have learnt from helping thousands of people to taper off antidepressants and other psychotropic medications. Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1177/2045125321991274