The whole issue of medication discontinuation and drug withdrawal is a study in itself. There are certain recommendations that should be followed, depending on the drug type. Essentially, this should be done under medical supervision. Never think that discontinuing psychotropic medication such as antidepressants is always easy. Withdrawal can be a nightmare, and added to the mental and physiological stresses, is usually the stress of the doctor telling you that your drugs were not chemically addictive, and your current symptoms are "due to a return to exactly why I prescribed them in the first place."
This is by no means the case. Ask your doctor to HONOR and RESPECT your decision to stop or reduce, and if you are not satisfied, find a doctor who will do so. Let's look at the case of Jane, who fortunately, had a psychiatrist prepared to help. .................................. Jane was a client of mine. Her intention was to deal with something other than her addiction to antidepressants, as you will read in her story below. Jane is an architect living in Perth, Western Australia. You’ll read below that for twenty years she had not questioned either her physician’s diagnosis of depression or her dependence on antidepressant drugs. In the interests of this site and program, the telling parts of Jane’s tale are (1) that in the years of her taking antidepressants she gradually became listless and unable to work well – and often, ‘at all’ – in her chosen profession, and (2) that the process of withdrawal from antidepressants was long and arduous. This letter from Jane was received two years after her clinical affectology treatment, and you will see from my comment following this, that things have changed even more for Jane in the intervening period to now.
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Jane is now back to being a
fully productive and highly successful architect after several years of discontinuation trials involving
tapering off medications. She worked well with her sympathetic and
understanding psychiatrist, and her latest communication with me was, ...
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Jane’s journey shows us that it can sometimes be a real battle to withdraw from antidepressants; that it can often require the help and guidance of a doctor who honors the desire for a patient to discontinue medication. But it can be done, no matter for how long the medication has been administered.
The CAUTION: always consult a medical doctor when desiring any discontinuation or reduction of psychotropic medications. |