Specialist clinics for deprescribing psychotropic medication

I’ve been cautious about being too prescriptive in withdrawing people from antidepressants (see eg. previous post). There should be more monitoring by doctors of people taking antidepressants (see another previous post). The full importance of antidepressant withdrawal is not yet appreciated by the medical profession in my view (see yet another previous post). 

Still, tapering is generally the best way to stop antidepressants, although some people do seem to be able to stop more easily, particularly if they have not been taking antidepressants for too long. An article in Medical Republic highlights that the Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) (see its press release) has made the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidlelines freely available for up to 500 members with an interest in psychology or addiction medicine. Mark Horowitz, one of the co-authors of the guidelines, is quoted in the article as saying that too many doctors recommend going back onto antidepressants when patients have withdrawal difficulties, rather than doing what they really should do is say that the drug should be stopped more carefully. I think in my clinical practice, perhaps because of the time needed to support people in withdrawal, I too easily allowed people to go back onto medication (see previous post). I support the development of more specialist clinics for deprescribing.