- Researchers report that more than half of participants in a recent study relapsed to depression after they stopped taking antidepressant medications.
- Experts say some people need to keep taking antidepressants longer, while others can avoid relapses after stopping their medication use.
- They say people who do stop taking antidepressants should consult with their doctor first and perhaps participate in therapy sessions for at least a while.
A majority of people who stop taking long-term antidepressant medication relapse to depression within a year, a new study finds.
But that might not be as serious as it sounds.
Researchers from University College London found that 56 percent of people who stopped taking long-term antidepressants such as citalopram, sertraline, fluoxetine, and mirtazapine experienced a relapse within 12 months.
That compared to a 39 percent relapse rate among people who kept taking their medication.
Conversely, the study found that 44 percent of participants who quit taking antidepressants did not relapse.
“Prescriptions of antidepressants have increased dramatically over recent decades as people are now taking antidepressants for much longer,” said Gemma Lewis, PhD, lead author of the study and a mental health sciences lecturer at University College London, in a statement.
“Until now, we didn’t know whether antidepressant treatment was still effective when someone has been taking them for many years. We have found that taking antidepressants long-term does effectively reduce the risk of relapse. However, many people can stop their medication without relapsing, though at present we cannot identify who those people are,” she said.
“The good news is that people don’t necessarily have to keep taking medication for the rest of their lives. For people who experience negative side effects from their medications, that’s great,” Dr. Nima Fahimian, medical director at TMS & Brain Health in Los Angeles, told Healthline.
Source: healthline