The Antidepressant Solution

A Step-by-Step Guide to Safely Overcoming Antidepressant Withdrawal, Dependence, and "Addiction"

Joseph Glenmullen

• Publisher: Free Press
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9780743288989
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: General Health

With the FDA's warning that antidepressants may cause agitation, anxiety, hostility, and even violent or suicidal tendencies, these medications are at the forefront of national legal news. Harvard physician Joseph Glenmullen has led the charge to warn the public that antidepressants are overprescribed, underregulated, and, especially, misunderstood in their side and withdrawal effects. Now he offers a solution! More than twenty million Americans -- including over one million teens and children -- take one of today's popular antidepressants, such as Paxil, Zoloft, or Effexor. Dr. Glenmullen recognizes the many benefits of antidepressants and prescribes them to his patients, but he is also committed to warning the public of the dangers associated with overprescription. Dr. Glenmullen's last book, Prozac Backlash, sounded the alarm about possible dangers. The Antidepressant Solution provides the remedy. It is the first book to call attention to the drugs' catch-22: Although many people are ready to go off these drugs, they continue to take them because either the patient or the doctor mistakes antidepressant withdrawal for depressive relapse. The Antidepressant Solution offers an easy, step-by-step guide for patients and their doctors. Written by the premier authority in the field, The Antidepressant Solution is an invaluable book for all those concerned with going through the process -- from friends and family members to doctors and patients themselves.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Colophon
• Also by Joseph Glenmullen, M.D.
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1. Antidepressant Withdrawal and Dependence: Defining the Problem
• 2. Resolving the Controversy over “Addiction” 17 to Antidepressants: The BBC Exposé
• 3. The Withdrawal Spectrum: Mild, Moderate, 28 and Severe Withdrawal Reactions
• 4. How Changing the Dose of Antidepressants Up or Down May Make Patients Suicidal
• 5. Worst Offenders: The Antidepressants that Cause the Most Frequent Withdrawal Reactions
• 6. The 5-Step Antidepressant Tapering Program: How to Avoid Uncomfortable or Dangerous Withdrawal Reactions
• 7. Step 1. Evaluating Whether You Are Ready 102 to Try Tapering Off Your Antidepressant
• 8. Step 2. Making the Initial Dosage Reduction
• 9. Step 3. Monitoring Withdrawal Symptoms After a Dosage Reduction
• 10. Step 4. Making Additional Dosage Reductions
• 11. Step 5. The End-of-Taper Evaluation
• 12. Tapering Children Off Antidepressants
• Afterword
• Appendix 1: Daily Checklist of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms
• Appendix 2: Graph of an Antidepressant Withdrawal Reaction
• Appendix 3: Tapering Older Tricyclic and Heterocyclic Antidepressants
• Appendix 4: Tapering Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor Antidepressants
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author