WITHDRAWAL RESOURCES

Welcome to MIA’s Drug Withdrawal Resource page. You can find here a directory of providers who help people taper from psychiatric medications, and information about withdrawal guides, educational courses, research studies, and personal withdrawal studies. Please write Susannah Senerchia ([email protected]) with any suggestions for other resources and information that could be added to this section of our website.

Disclaimer: Mad in America is not providing medical advice with this resource section, or making any recommendations regarding withdrawal from psychiatric medications. The purpose of this page is to provide resources and information for those who may be considering this possibility.

Provider Directory

Visit the Mad in America provider directory to find practitioners who can help individuals withdraw from psychiatric medications.

EDUCATIONAL COURSES

Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal 1: This MIA Continuing Education course is composed of seven seminars, with presentations by Jocelyn Pedersen, Dina Tyler, Emily Cutler, Will Hall, Sandra Steingard, Kelly Brogan, and Will Hall.

Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal II: The Psychiatrist’s Perspective on Challenges, Opportunities and Shared Decision-Making. This MIA Continuing Education course is composed of eight seminars, witpresentations by Joanna Moncrieff, Sandy Steingard, David Healy, Johanna Ryan, Sami Timimi, Swapnil Gupta, Pesach Lichtenberg, and Roger Mulder.

In this MIA Continuing Education webinar, Olga Runciman, a co-founder of the Danish Hearing Voices Network, tells of her work with helping people taper from antipsychotics and other psychiatric medications.

A course in Denmark, led by Peter Gøtzsche, on safe withdrawal from psychotropics. (Subtitles in English.)

Personal stories

Up in the Air: Surviving 24 Hours with Akathisia

Chris Paige, LCSW - September 18, 2020 22

Flying from Anchorage to Cleveland while suffering from life-threatening akathisia was going to be a constant push-pull between the urge to freak out and maintaining my body and psyche so as not to scare the other passengers.

Out of the Abyss (with a Little Help from My Friends)

Sherry Julo - September 11, 2020 49

An ER doctor told me I was experiencing venlafaxine withdrawal, then told me to go home and take care of myself. Unbeknownst to me, I was about to enter pure hell.

Born Addicted to Valium: Understanding a Lifetime of Symptoms

Wendy Thomas - August 28, 2020 4

Withdrawal felt like: evil feeding on my soul, my spirit being tortured, not being able to feel love, constantly feeling like I was falling in a dark tunnel, and wanting to get out of my body.

pill bottle with skull and crossbones label

Gabapentin Horror

Linda E. - April 30, 2020 33

After suffering PTSD in the late 1980s, I reluctantly accepted antidepressants. In time, I had resolved the trauma, but when I tried to stop the antidepressants (Prozac, and later Zoloft), I assumed my desperate feelings and “return” of depression were an indication I had an imbalance and needed those drugs. I didn’t understand I was experiencing withdrawal. (I was never told that for most people, psychiatric medications need to be tapered.)

Ambushed by Antidepressant Withdrawal: The Escape Story

Derek Blumke - September 27, 2019 27

I’m alive. More than 30,000 veterans in the past decade alone are not. I was not warned of the risks of this drug. I was not told that once on it, I might never be able to get off it, or the nightmare that would ensue when I tried. I know millions of others were not told either.