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Analysis and Health

Does coming off antidepressants really cause withdrawal symptoms?

A review of 79 studies suggests that 1 in 3 people who stop taking antidepressants get mental and physical symptoms, but what does that actually mean when these can also occur when you discontinue a placebo?

By Clare Wilson

5 June 2024

The extent to which antidepressants cause withdrawal symptoms, if at all, has long been a contentious issue

Aleksandr Davydov/Alamy

Antidepressants are one of the most commonly taken medications in high-income countries – and are among the most controversial. Just 10 years ago, some doctors may have doubted that antidepressant withdrawal symptoms happen very much at all. Now, a study has found that these reactions occur in as many as 1 in 3 people who stop taking the medicines, although they may not always be what they seem.

Most antidepressants used today belong to a group of drugs known as selective serotonin…

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