Why Are Antidepressants So Difficult to Stop? A New Understanding of Drug Dysregulation Syndrome and

Many people who stop taking SSRI antidepressants experience what is often described as “protracted withdrawal syndrome.” In this webinar, David Healy presents a different understanding of the biology of this injury: people withdrawing from SSRIs are suffering a “dysregulation” of their sensory nervous system. He will tell of how drug companies knew of this hazard when they developed SSRIs, and how they sought to hide it from the public. As most of serotonin is found outside our brain, SSRIs primarily impact our “bodies”, especially our senses. The target effect of SSRIs is a sensory muting, but they may also cause a sensory irritation, giving rise to akathisia. Both muting and irritation can cause problems, especially on stopping.

As such, the drugs give rise to a “Drug Dysregulation Syndrome” affecting different systems, especially after extended exposure. These syndromes are not manifestations of psychological or physiological drug dependence. They are not linked to binding at the serotonin reuptake sites, and they are not caused by the speed of tapering. What we do know about managing these syndromes has come from people with lived experience with these problems.

This webinar will sketch a way forward for managing this "syndrome."

About the Guest Speaker

David Healy has worked on serotonin reuptake systems for 40 years, in the laboratory, as a consultant to pharmaceutical companies, as a clinician using SSRIs and recognizing the problems they cause, and, for over a decade, as a member of the RxISK.org team that collects reports on treatment-induced adverse reactions.