They experience withdrawal when they stop taking antidepressants

NEW YORK (HealthDay News)—More or less one in six people what stop taking an antidepressant will experience symptoms caused by the drug discontinuationfind a recent review.

However, only one in 35 will experience severe symptoms after stopping the medication, researchers report in The Lancet Psychiatry.

“Our study confirms that a number of patients who stop taking antidepressants will experience discontinuation symptoms and for a few these will be of a more severe extent,” said lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Henssler, psychiatrist at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.

But Henssler added that the findings “should also be reassuring that rates of withdrawal symptoms are not as high as some previous studies and reviews have suggested.”

Previous studies have estimated that more than half of patients experience symptoms when they stop taking antidepressants, and that in half of cases the symptoms are severe, the researchers noted in background notes.

To get a more accurate picture, they reviewed the data from 79 studies in which more than 100 people participated 21,000 patients.

Looking at all the data, researchers found that about a third (31 percent) of people who quit taking an antidepressant experienced at least one symptom. These symptoms may include dizziness, headache, nausea, insomnia and irritability.

The overall data also showed that severe symptoms occurred in about three percent of patients, or one in 35.

However, when looking at the results of randomized controlled clinical trials, considered the gold standard for medical research, about 17 percent of patients experienced symptoms even though they were only taking a placebo instead of a real antidepressant.

This suggests that About half of all reported symptoms could be due to negative expectationswhat researchers call the “nocebo effect,” or other health problems unrelated to antidepressant use.

The researchers concluded that therefore, one in six patients (15%) will experience symptoms directly caused by discontinuing antidepressant use.

Anyone who wants to stop taking antidepressants should talk to their doctor, experts stressed.

Certain antidepressants carry a higher risk of severe symptoms once they are stopped, the results show. The list includes imipramine (Tofranil), paroxetine (Paxil) and venlafaxine (Effexor).

“Our findings do not imply that some symptoms experienced by people during antidepressant discontinuation are not real or that all discontinuation symptoms are due to patients’ expectations,” said senior researcher, Christopher Baethgefrom the University of Cologne.

“Any symptoms that cause patients discomfort or distress should be taken seriously, and the patient should be supported. The patient and doctor should discuss which of the symptoms might be directly caused by stopping antidepressants and how best to manage all the symptoms,” Baethge added.