Dr Joanna Moncrieff
@joannamoncrieff
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Critical psychiatrist, author and researcher. Also @joannamoncrieff.bsky.social
UK
Joined October 2013
Following the storm of interest provoked by our 2022 review, I am pleased to announce the publication of my book telling the story of the serotonin theory of depression from the beginning to recent times. Due out Jan 2025. To pre-order @flint_books 1/3
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Thanks for highlighting this - a very important issue.
In a survey of sexual+gender minority youth, excluding people with hormonal treatments, 1 in 7 experienced PSSD symptoms after stopping antidepressants, 14 times the rate in youth who had stopped other psychiatric medications. #mentalhealth RT @markhoro
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Totally accept your point. It is v. difficult to get funding to do research on adverse effects e.g. withdrawal. Here is one paper we did looking at experiences of antidepressant withdrawal in people in online groups - it showed how severe it is for many
@Rozewicz @JAMAPsych @markhoro @joannamoncrieff We have thousands of patients in online communities and deprescribing practices that NO ONE is studying. Lots of media about this, documentaries, videos, even some of your own journal articles talk about it:
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The fact the review is interpreted as ‘reassuring’ by its authors is concerning, and suggests future patients may not be properly informed about the risks of antidepressants 5/n.
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The criterion of 4 plus symptoms to indicate clinically significant withdrawal, although suggested by others, is arbitrary and has no empirical basis – 1 severe symptom could be disabling and could also obscure other symptoms 3/n.
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On the other hand, the data on the incidence of individual symptoms is completely unreliable because it includes data from spontaneously reported adverse events, which are not collected systematically, and highly likely to miss cases 2/n.
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The new review of antidepressant withdrawal has some merits: in trials using systematic measurement, it shows SSRIs and SNRIs cause withdrawal symptoms even after a few weeks of use. Agomelatine doesn’t (this is already recognised) 1/n
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RT @lizctucker: My latest Substack article highlights my podcast with @LauraDelano who diagnosed as bipolar at 14, discusses how the medica….
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As I was leaving a meeting today someone I don't know approached me to tell me her mother is in severe antidepressant withdrawal. Anecdotal, of course, but suggests this experience is not uncommon.
Attached is a montage of 8 individuals who share their lived experience of Antidepressant Withdrawal. Their symptoms are not mild or transient & their exposure to ADs is far beyond 6-12 weeks. They represent the real-life experience of AD withdrawal.
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RT @MichelleFunk3: Thank you so much @markhoro for putting the new data into context with clear, evidence-based analysis. You highlight tha….
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RT @BioProtocol: @joannamoncrieff The gap between short-term studies and real-world long-term use is massive, and honestly, it’s frustratin….
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RT @ReadReadj: New Scientist includes critique by @markhoro and myself of this flawed study irresponsibly minimising antidepressant withd….
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This thread highlights the severe limitations of the recent review of antidepressant withdrawal.
The review by Kalfas on antidepressant withdrawal in JAMA Psychiatry will mislead as it is based largely on people who have taken antidepressants for 8-12 weeks in 11 RCTs-this will under-estimate the risks for millions of long-term users. Thread (1/n)
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RT @markhoro: Looking at what happens to people after 8-12 weeks is the equivalent of a car company running a crash collision of its cars b….
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This is what's wrong with minimising antidepressant withdrawal.
According to @markhoro, @sameerjauhar will publish an article tomorrow calling for antidepressant withdrawal to be deemphasised in clinical guidelines. This is a huge gut punch for those of us in the prescribed harm community who are trying to raise awareness about the risks of.
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RT @markhoro: Useful article on long-lasting antidepressant withdrawal injuries from @NPRHealth including showing people who have delayed o….
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and note the only longer term trial (26 weeks) was of agomelatine, which seems to cause substantially less physical dependence.
The review by Kalfas on antidepressant withdrawal in JAMA Psychiatry will mislead as it is based largely on people who have taken antidepressants for 8-12 weeks in 11 RCTs-this will under-estimate the risks for millions of long-term users. Thread (1/n)
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RT @markhoro: In the NYT, academics, some of whom have been paid by companies that market these drugs, say that patient concern about withd….
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RT @markhoro: Concluding that depressed mood following antidepressant withdrawal was relapse "could lead clinicians to neglect or misjudge….
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'Studying what happens to people after just eight to 12 weeks on antidepressants is like testing car safety by crashing a vehicle into a wall at 5km/h – ignoring the fact that real drivers are out on the roads doing 60km/h'
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Article about a new review on antidepressant withdrawal: 'the new research relied on short-term drug company studies of just a few weeks, which bore little resemblance to patients who had been taking antidepressants for many years'
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