This page contains links to information about discontinuing psychotropic medications. Prior to stopping any medication, please contact the provider who prescribed your medication for guidance. Suddenly stopping some medications can cause unpleasant side effects or be dangerous. Please obtain guidance from your provider regarding optimal ways of discontinuing your medication.
Medstopper is a tool to help clinicians and patients make decisions about reducing or stopping medications. You can enter the name(s) of medication(s) you are considering stopping into a search box, and it will generate a report that provides guidance regarding how to stop. Patients should consult with their prescribing physicians to insure the guidance is appropriate for them before initiating the discontinuation provess.
This website provides prescribing physicians with vidence-based guidelines and their algorithms for discontinuing anti-psychotic and anti-anxiety (benzodiazepine) medications.
The Ashton Manual for discontinuing benzodiazepines
International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal https://iipdw.org
Guidance for Psychological Therapists Enabling conversations with clients taking or withdrawing from prescribed psychiatric drugs
https://prescribeddrug.info/guidance-for-psychological-therapists/section-4/antidepressants
Resources under review
https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/treatments-and-wellbeing/stopping-antidepressants
Everything Matters—Beyond Meds (founded by Monica Cassani)
Recovery Road (founded by Baylissa Frederick)
Surviving Antidepressants (founded by Altostrata)
Psychiatric Medication Tapering Program, by the Drug Withdrawal Research Foundation
https://www.taperingstrip.org/
https://psychcentral.com/lib/discontinuing-psychiatric-medications-what-you-need-to-know/
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/cme/discontinuing-medications-when-why-and-how
International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal
Managing Antidepressant Discontinuation: A Systematic Review (2019)
http://www.livelearninc.net/pmdr
Kaiser Permanente - Benzodiazepine and Z Drug Safety Guideline
https://wa.kaiserpermanente.org/static/pdf/public/guidelines/benzo-zdrug.pdf
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Deprescribing Is an Essential Part of Good Prescribing (https://www.aafp.org/afp/2019/0101/p7.html)
Deprescribing Unnecessary Medications: A Four-Part Process (https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0500/p28.html)
What Needs to Change to Make Deprescribing Doable (https://www.aafp.org/fpm/2018/0500/p5.html)
Deprescribing Antipsychotics for Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia and Insomnia (https://www.aafp.org/afp/2018/0915/p394.html). —Sumi M. Sexton, MD, Editor-in-Chief, American Family Physician
Guideline source: Deprescribing Guidelines in the Elderly Project (http://www.open-pharmacy-research.ca/research-projects/emerging-services/deprescribing-guidelines)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidepressant_discontinuation_syndrome
https://www.annfammed.org/content/17/1/52.full
https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/going-off-antidepressants
Bupropion
https://www.pharmacists.ca/cpha-ca/assets/File/cpha-on-the-issues/Bupropion_Shortage_2018.pdf
https://www.alternativetomeds.com/blog/wellbutrin-withdrawal/
https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/auvelity-work-wellbutrin-3575060/
https://www.drugs.com/auvelity.html
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Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry (CEP)
https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/medical-model-has-presided-over-four-decades-flat-lining-outcomes
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https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17522439.2018.1469163
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Moncrieff, J., Cooper, R. E., Stockmann, T., Amendola, S., Hengartner, M. P., & Horowitz, M. A. (2023). The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence. Molecular psychiatry, 28(8), 3243–3256. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01661-0
On this channel, Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring provides guidance to help people safely stop psychiatric medications and recover from side effects. He also shares both heartbreaking and inspiring stories of those harmed by psychiatric drugs and their journeys to recovery. Dr. Josef is a board-certified psychiatrist, former FDA medical officer, and owner of the world’s largest psychiatric drug tapering program..
https://www.youtube.com/@taperclinic
My links: https://beacons.ai/drjosef
Come find us at: https://www.taperclinic.com/
Home to the Life on Less Meds Podcast
Ritvo, A. D., Foster, D. E., Huff, C., Finlayson, A. J. R., Silvernail, B., & Martin, P. R. (2023). Long-term consequences of benzodiazepine-induced neurological dysfunction: A survey. PloS one, 18(6), e0285584. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285584