Mad in America, the Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry, International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal and A Disorder 4 Everyone presented a series of live, online town hall discussions focussing on issues related to psychiatric drug withdrawal.
For the third discussion, they examined protracted problems that can arise after psychiatric drug withdrawal. Sometimes referred to as post-acute or post-withdrawal syndromes, these experiences can include chronic health problems and sexual dysfunction. What do we know and not know about responding to long- term health problems after coming off psychiatric drugs? This discussion was aired live on May 14, 2021. To find links to the resources and references mentioned during this discussion, visit this page:
https://www.madinamerica.com/pdwref/
Panelists
Adele Framer
Adele resides in San Francisco, USA. A survivor of 11 years of antidepressant withdrawal syndrome, in 2011, under the pseudonym Altostrata, she founded the peer support site SurvivingAntidepressants.org, currently containing more than 6,000 longitudinal case histories from its 14,000 members. A widely recognized patient advocate, she is a lay expert in psychiatric drug tapering and withdrawal syndromes.
Will Hall
Will is a schizophrenia diagnosis survivor and longtime organizer with the psychiatric survivor movement. He is a PhD candidate at Maastricht University and lead researcher on the Maastricht World Survey on Antipsychotic Drug Withdrawal, and author of the Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs, as well as host of Madness Radio and a co-founder of the Hearing Voices Network USA.
David Healy
David is a Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton Canada. He has been raising concerns about withdrawal from antidepressants since the mid-1990s and was an expert witness in a successful legal case about withdrawal and dependence in 2004. He figures we have made little or no progress sorting the issues out and now have a major public health crisis on our hands.
Nicole Lamberson
Nicole is a physician assistant as well as a patient suffering protracted harm following a rapid medical “detox” from prescribed benzodiazepines/Z-drugs & other psychotropic polypharmacy. She co- founded The Withdrawal Project, serves on the Medical Board of Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, & does outreach for Medicating Normal-The Film.
