{"id":16560,"date":"2025-07-17T14:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T14:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/16560\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T14:32:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T14:32:14","slug":"antidepressant-withdrawal-isnt-usually-significant-review-finds-challenging-earlier-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/16560\/","title":{"rendered":"Antidepressant Withdrawal Isn’t Usually Significant, Review Finds \u2014 Challenging Earlier Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Symptoms of antidepressant withdrawal were first identified in the 1950s \u2014 but since then, psychiatrists and professional organizations have disagreed about how common or severe these symptoms may be.<\/p>\n

A new review \u2014 the largest to date on antidepressant discontinuation symptoms, published in the prestigious journal JAMA Psychiatry \u2014 has found that while most people in this situation experience at least one symptom, the majority don\u2019t experience severe withdrawal.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/p>\n

\u201cOur work should reassure the public,\u201d said lead author Sameer Jauhar, PhD<\/a>, a professor of psychiatry at Imperial College London, in a press release. \u201cDespite previous concerns about stopping antidepressants, our findings show that most people do not experience severe withdrawal.\u201d<\/p>\n

[2]<\/p>\n

But some experts are skeptical of the findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe review shows that SSRIs and SNRIs [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin\u2013norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, the most common antidepressants] cause withdrawal effects after just a few weeks,\u201d says\u00a0Joanna Moncrieff, MD<\/a>, a professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London.<\/p>\n

But concluding that most people don\u2019t have symptoms that affect their well-being or ability to function based on the included studies would be a mistake, says Dr. Moncrieff, who wasn\u2019t involved in the study.<\/p>\n

The trials used to reach that conclusion were almost all short-term, lasting 8 to 12 weeks, she says. \u201cSince we know that withdrawal symptoms are more likely to develop after long-term use, such trials are completely uninformative about the risks of withdrawal for people who use the drugs for months and years \u2014 as many, many people do,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The new findings contradict a 2019 analysis by British researchers that had a major impact on both public perception and how some doctors prescribed \u2014 and tapered patients off \u2014 antidepressants. That earlier review found that 56 percent of people stopping antidepressants experienced withdrawal symptoms, with nearly half describing them as severe.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/p>\n

The Most Common Symptoms of Stopping an Antidepressant<\/p>\n

For the new review, researchers analyzed 50 randomized controlled trials (considered the gold standard), which included a total of nearly 18,000 people. Participants were 44 years old, on average, and 70 percent were female.<\/p>\n

The review showed that the most common symptoms of antidepressant withdrawal were:<\/p>\n

DizzinessNauseaVertigoNervousness<\/p>\n

These symptoms usually appeared within the first few days of discontinuation.<\/p>\n

The researchers also calculated how many people taking antidepressants experienced each symptom, compared with how many people had those symptoms when stopping a placebo:<\/p>\n

Dizziness: 7.5 percent in people stopping an antidepressant, versus 1.8 percent in people stopping a placeboNausea: 4.1 percent versus 1.5 percentVertigo: 2.7 percent versus 0.4 percentNervousness: 3 percent versus 0.8 percent<\/p>\n

The authors wrote that these symptoms were more likely to reflect depression symptoms coming back, rather than symptoms of medication withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Moncrieff also takes issue with that finding, saying that \u201cthis conclusion was based on a small number of studies\u201d and wasn\u2019t systematically measured, but rather gathered from the reports of individual doctors or patients. She says that it means the data likely isn\u2019t reliable.<\/p>\n

On average, compared with those stopping a placebo,\u00a0people stopping antidepressants reported just one additional withdrawal symptom, a difference that falls below the threshold for clinical significance, which was determined to be experiencing four or more symptoms, the authors wrote.<\/p>\n

In this case, clinically significant refers to a person having noticeable symptoms that would impact their well-being, ability, or daily life.<\/p>\n

Moncrieff also points out that the \u201cclinically significant\u201d cutoff of having four or more symptoms isn\u2019t a universally agreed on definition.<\/p>\n

The authors do acknowledge that the majority of the studies were short-term and only followed people up to two weeks after discontinuing the medication (though they say that\u2019s the period one would expect most withdrawal symptoms to occur), which limits long-term conclusions.<\/p>\n

However, they noted that their findings matched results from a trial published in 2021 that looked at people who had been on antidepressants for longer \u2014 many for at least two years \u2014 that found severe withdrawal is infrequent, even after prolonged use. That study was included in the current review.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/p>\n

Does the New Review Put Concerns Over Antidepressant Withdrawal to Rest?<\/p>\n

Gerard Sanacora, PhD, MD<\/a>, a professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Connecticut, who was not involved in the study, says that the new review findings were \u201cconsistent with what we see clinically\u201d among people taking antidepressants on a short-term basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese symptoms are real, but they\u2019re not as dramatic or dangerous as they\u2019re sometimes portrayed,\u201d says Dr. Sanacora. \u201cThe data provides valuable context for conversations with patients. It shows that withdrawal is possible, but in most cases, it\u2019s limited and manageable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanacora says that it\u2019s not clear whether the study findings would apply to people who have taken antidepressants for a longer time. Placebo-controlled studies on longer-term use and discontinuation just aren\u2019t available, he says.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s hard to compare what people might experience or report in the \u201creal world,\u201d because there\u2019s no placebo control there either, Sanacora adds.<\/p>\n

What You Feel vs. What You Expect to Feel<\/p>\n

Just as believing that a treatment will help can improve outcomes (the placebo effect), expecting problems can make people more likely to feel worse.<\/p>\n

A recent meta-analysis of 79 studies is a case in point. The review found that although 1 in 3 people experienced withdrawal symptoms when discontinuing antidepressants, so did 1 in 6 patients stopping a placebo. After accounting for the placebo effect, the study concluded that 15 percent of patients truly experienced withdrawal, and 3 percent experienced symptoms classified as severe, such as insomnia, nausea, and headaches.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/p>\n

\u201cHow we talk about these issues really matters,\u201d says Sanacora. \u201cIt\u2019s a balance between giving patients the information we have to set reasonable expectations, but also not putting it in their head that they\u2019re going to have a really hard time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Sanacora believes that the study offers a valuable tool to help guide these conversations. \u201cIt\u2019s not about downplaying people\u2019s experiences. It\u2019s about giving them accurate, balanced information,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

What You Should Know if You\u2019re Thinking About Stopping Your AntidepressantRoughly 1 in 9 U.S. adults take antidepressants, and women are about twice as likely as men to take antidepressants.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/p>\n

Although this latest review suggests that, for most people, withdrawal is manageable, it doesn\u2019t mean everyone\u2019s journey will be easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no one-size-fits-all approach,\u201d says Sanacora. \u201cSome medications carry more risk of withdrawal than others, and some people are more sensitive to changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The findings should not be interpreted to mean that stopping your antidepressant is no big deal or that it can be managed on your own. \u201cYou should talk with your doctor if you want to stop your medication, and you can decide together how to discontinue your antidepressant to minimize the risk of withdrawal symptoms or a relapse of your depression,\u201d Sanacora says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Symptoms of antidepressant withdrawal were first identified in the 1950s \u2014 but since then, psychiatrists and professional organizations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-16560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}