One in six people who stop taking antidepressants experience symptoms after stopping them
The Lancet Psychiatry publishes the first meta-analysis of the incidence of antidepressant treatment discontinuation symptoms that includes data from more than 20,000 patients collected from 79 randomised controlled trials and observational studies. The study sought to distinguish between symptoms directly caused by medication discontinuation and other ‘non-specific’ symptoms that may be associated with patient or professional expectations (the nocebo effect). The study concludes that one in six to seven patients will experience one or more symptoms directly caused by stopping medication, and one in 35 are likely to experience severe symptoms.