A new qualitative study exploring antidepressant withdrawal effects and prescribing experiences was published in November which is well worth a read. In this paper, Anne Guy and co-authors outline the results of a qualitative study of 158 people who gave descriptions of their experience of psychotropic medication withdrawal for petitions sent to British parliaments.
“The themes identified include: a lack of information given to patients about the risk of antidepressant withdrawal; doctors failing to recognise the symptoms of withdrawal; doctors being poorly informed about the best method of tapering prescribed medications; patients being diagnosed with relapse of the underlying condition or medical illnesses other than withdrawal; patients seeking advice outside of mainstream healthcare, including from online forums; and significant effects on functioning for those experiencing withdrawal.”
There are a few links to prescriber resources in among the references that might be useful to explore.
Read the full open-access article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2045125320967183
Guy, A., Brown, M., Lewis, S., et al, (2020). The ‘patient voice’: patients who experience antidepressant withdrawal symptoms are often dismissed, or misdiagnosed with relapse, or a new medical condition. Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, 10, DOI: 10.1177/2045125320967183
