ArticleTherapeutic advances in psychopharmacology2020
Protracted withdrawal syndrome after stopping antidepressants: a descriptive quantitative analysis of consumer narratives from a large internet forum.
Article in Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) after stopping antidepressants: a systematic review with meta-narrative synthesis.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Incidence and risk factors of antidepressant withdrawal symptoms: a meta-analysis and systematic review.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Stopping antidepressants: when and how.Australian prescriber · 2026Review
- Protracted escitalopram discontinuation syndrome and serotonin toxicity associated with CYP2C19 poor metabolism: A case report.The mental health clinician · 2026Article
- Lost in translation: toward clinically effective translational research.Translational psychiatry · 2025Review
- 'I Wish It Were More Often Told to People Before They Are Prescribed These Medications How Hard It Is to Get Off Them': A Qualitative Descriptive Analysis of Free-Text Responses to a Survey on Reducing and Stopping Psychiatric Medication.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- Acute and persistent withdrawal syndromes following discontinuation of antidepressants in children and adolescents: a systematic review.Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Hidden Costs: The Clinical and Research Pitfalls of Mistaking Antidepressant Withdrawal for Relapse.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2025Article
- Article
- Creativity and Mental Illness: A Case Study of a Patient with Progressive Bulbar Palsy.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Article
- Efficacy of low carbohydrate and ketogenic diets in treating mood and anxiety disorders: systematic review and implications for clinical practice.BJPsych open · 2023Review
- Review
- Experience of antidepressant use and discontinuation: A qualitative synthesis of the evidence.Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing · 2023Review
- Article
- Later is not necessarily better: limitations of survival analysis in studies of long-term drug treatment of psychiatric conditions.BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2022Article
- Dispositions and Causality Assessment in Pharmacovigilance: Proposing the Dx3 Approach for Assessing Causality with Small Data Sets.Pharmaceutical medicine · 2022Article
- Vortioxetine Induced Hypomania: A Case Presentation and Review of the Literature.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundProtracted withdrawal syndrome (PWS) after stopping antidepressants (frequently also referred to as post-acute withdrawal syndrome or PAWS) has been described in a few case reports. However, a detailed quantitative analysis of specific symptom manifestations in antidepressant PWS is still lacking.
methodsWe extracted patient narratives from a large English-language internet forum SurvivingAntidepressants.org, a peer support site concerned about withdrawal from antidepressants. PWS was ascertained based on diagnostic criteria proposed by Chouinard and Chouinard, specifically ⩾6 months of continuous antidepressant use, with emergence of new and/or more intense symptoms after discontinuation that last beyond the initial 6 weeks of acute withdrawal. We assessed medication history, outcome of PWS, and the prevalence of specific symptoms.
resultsIn total,
conclusionPWS or PAWS from antidepressants can be severe and long-lasting, and its manifestations clinically heterogeneous. Long-term antidepressant exposure may cause multiple body system impairments. Although both somatic and affective symptoms are frequent, they are mostly unrelated in terms of occurrence. Proper recognition and detection of PWS thus requires a comprehensive assessment of medication history, duration of the withdrawal syndrome, and its various somatic, affective, sleep, and cognitive symptoms.
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