Just like the decision to start an antidepressant, the decision to stop one is complicated and needs to be tailored to your specific situation.
Why Are You Thinking About Stopping?
A good starting point, is to identify what got you started thinking about this in the first place. It could be something simple like reading an article in the newspaper, having your doctor or your friend ask you about it, you are tired of taking too many pills or the antidepressant is causing problems in your sex life or emotional life. In a study conducted in Australia, people who stopped their antidepressant reported a variety of reasons such as feeling like a “space cadet”, feeling perfectly well and not needing the drug anymore, running out of medication, not being able to pay for it and wanting to “test the waters”.
Weighing the Pros and Cons
Consider the following grid and try filling in these boxes based on your experiences and feelings. Then ask your doctor to add any information that could be considered relevant (they might not have much to add because there is little research on long-term antidepressant use). Your doctor might caution against stopping the medication if you have had many episodes of depression, depressions severe enough to cause hospitalization or if you had thoughts of suicide in the past.
| Pros of continuing the medication | Cons of continuing the medication |
| Pros of stopping the medication | Cons of stopping the medication |
If it is clear that you have side effects attributable to the antidepressant or if that medication is interacting with other drugs that you are taking, then the decision becomes slightly easier. If you are taking the medication everyday, have taken it for long enough and it’s still not helping, then it might be time to discuss tapering it and stopping it.
Being in a better place in life, making significant gains in psychotherapy, wanting to live without medications are not invalid reasons for considering stopping your antidepressant. Your values and preferences are very important in the collaborative decision-making process around this question.
How to Make the Decision
- Gather information from trusted sources.
- Have a thoughtful, unhurried conversation with your doctor.
- Make sure your concerns and questions are fully addressed.
- Remember: Most antidepressants require careful tapering—stopping suddenly can cause withdrawal symptoms or a return of depression.