A systematic review and meta-analysis on antidepressant discontinuation found that while one in three people reports symptoms upon stopping, half are likely due to the nocebo effect. Severe symptoms are rare, affecting only about 3% of those discontinuing. Credit: SciTechDaily.
How difficult it is to get off antidepressants is often discussed emotionally. A meta-analysis now sheds light on how common discontinuation symptoms actually are. Credit: © Charité | Romy GreinerTo answer that question more reliably than before, a team led by Christopher Baethge and Dr.
“Drug effects can be ruled out in the placebo group, which means the symptoms either arose by chance, independently of the treatment, or they are the product of the nocebo effect,” Henssler explains. The nocebo effect is often considered the mirror image of the placebo effect. It explains the observation that inactive treatments can be associated with “side effects.
As Baethge points out, “It’s important for all people wishing to discontinue treatment with antidepressants to be monitored and counseled by healthcare professionals and to receive individual support in the case of withdrawal symptoms. Joint decision-making between the patient and prescriber even before a course of treatment begins is the foundation of good treatment.
Reference: “Incidence of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis” by Jonathan Henssler, Yannick Schmidt, Urszula Schmidt, Guido Schwarzer, Tom Bschor and Christopher Baethge, 5 June 2024,The 79 studies considered in the meta-analysis included both randomized placebo-controlled trials and observational studies conducted without a control group. Of the 21,002 patients involved in the studies, 16,532 had received an antidepressant, and 4,470 a placebo.