Antidepressant discontinuation symptoms: what do the data really tell us?

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Gemma Lewis and Glyn Lewis summarise a robust systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the incidence of symptoms when discontinuing or withdrawing from antidepressants. The data suggest that 8-14% of patients will experience antidepressant discontinuation symptoms, and for around 2% these symptoms will be severe.

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Antidepressant withdrawal: recommendations for support from people with lived experience

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Hannah Bowers summarises a study exploring the need for antidepressant withdrawal support, from 708 survey respondents with lived experience.

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Antidepressant withdrawal or depression relapse? International guidelines on antidepressant discontinuation are unclear

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Adele Framer summarises a systematic review which finds that major guidelines on antidepressant discontinuation only give clinicians vague guidance on distinguishing withdrawal from relapse.

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Maintenance or discontinuation of antidepressants for depression? Findings from the ANTLER trial

For every 6 people stopping their medication there was one additional relapse compared to those who maintained their antidepressant treatment, suggesting that stopping medication has an increased risk of relapse.

Raphael Rifkin-Zybutz and Sameer Jauhar summarise the recently published ANTLER trial, which explores whether antidepressant maintenance can reduce the risk of relapse in depression.

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The benefits and harms of antidepressants for youth depression and anxiety #ActiveIngredientsMH

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Mark Horowitz and Joanna Moncrieff consider a new #ActiveIngredientsMH review published today in The Lancet Psychiatry, which looks at the knowns and unknowns of antidepressant treatment in young people with depression and anxiety: efficacy, predictors, and mechanisms of action.

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Expertise from outside the Academy: tapering off antidepressants

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Mark Horowitz considers a recent article written by Adele Framer, Founder of SurvivingAntidepressants.org, which describes how best to help people who are tapering off antidepressants.

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Antidepressant discontinuation and continuation: new Cochrane review finds miasma of confound

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Adele Framer, Founder of SurvivingAntidepressants.org, explores a recent Cochrane review on antidepressant discontinuation versus continuation for adults with depression or anxiety, which highlights huge uncertainty in the science about antidepressant withdrawal.

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Mindfulness to support antidepressant withdrawal: patient views and experiences

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Hannah Bowers writes her debut blog on a recent qualitative study, which explores how mindfulness-based cognitive therapy can help people stop taking antidepressants and recover from depression. This paper includes the views and perspectives of participants in the 2015 PREVENT trial.

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Antidepressant withdrawal: slower and lower tapering of SSRIs

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A group of UCL Masters Students summarise a recent personal view by Mark Horowitz and David Taylor about tapering of SSRI treatment to mitigate antidepressant withdrawal symptoms.

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Antidepressant withdrawal: reviewing the paper behind the headlines

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Joseph Hayes and Sameer Jauhar set the record straight on antidepressant withdrawal. They show how the recent review by Davies and Read is seriously flawed and does not accurately portray the data. They conclude that we urgently need clearer evidence on the incidence, severity and duration of any symptoms related to antidepressant withdrawal.

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