Withdrawing from psychiatric medications can be painful, dangerous and even life-threatening. Please seek the advice of a trained professional before changing the dosage of any medication.
Listed here are some online resources that can help you better understand the medication, how it works and give you an idea for some safe withdrawal protocols. Armed with this information you can then decide what’s best for you.
Surviving Antidepressants has been an invaluable resource for thousands tapering off antidepressants. Packed with excellent advice for tapering specific versions of SSRIs, handling neuro-emotions and navigating the complexities of everyday life during a taper, this site also offers space to track your own progress and seek input from others who have gone before.
Inner Compass Initiative (ICI) is a new 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides information and resources to help people make more informed choices regarding all things “mental health” and to support people who wish to leave, bypass, or build community beyond the mental health system. Its first major effort, The Withdrawal Project (TWP), is a comprehensive online hub for safer psychiatric drug withdrawal. The resources on the ICI and TWP websites include a detailed layperson’s “Companion Guide” to safer tapering from psychiatric medications; mini-booklets that provide detailed, critical information about psychiatric drugs, psychiatric diagnoses, and the mental health industry; and two networking platforms to help people who are thinking critically about the mental health system or seeking support for psychiatric drug withdrawal to find each other in their local community.
RxISK is a free, independent drug safety website to help you weigh the benefits of any medication against its potential dangers. One of the best features of RxISK is it’s drug interaction checker. Those taking multiple drugs can enter them in the checker, and it generates a concise list of potential interactions ranked as mild, moderate or major.
MadinAmerica.com is an online e-zine that publishes articles from psychiatrists, psychologists, researchers, people with lived experiences and others interested reshaping the current paradigm of mental health and treatment in the US and abroad. The site maintains a provider directory for those seeking professional help and support discontinuing psychoactive medications. Recently a section was added on parent resources for those with children prescribed these drugs.