Patients weaning themselves off antidepressants are turning to online support groups due to a lack of information and support, with a new study finding that Facebook and other platforms are filling a gap left by doctors.
About one in seven Australians take antidepressants the most commonly dispensed medications.
But there have been difficulties in establishing guidelines for discontinuing, or “weaning off” the medications, because patients respond differently to tapering off the medications, which must be tapered gradually over weeks or months to avoid side effects. prevent.
Studies estimate that approximately 50% of patients will experience mild to severe withdrawal symptoms during this process, such as shaking, sweating, anxiety, mood swings, and electric shock.
These side effects are sometimes confused with the recurrence of depression, prompting patients to continue taking their medication or resume their initially prescribed dose, said Amy Coe, a research associate at the University of Melbourne’s department of family medicine.
“We noticed that there are a lot of support groups created by consumers for others coming off antidepressants, and the Facebook groups in particular are very large, with thousands of people in them,” Coe said. “We really wanted to know why so many people are turning to them.”
Coe and her colleagues selected two Facebook support groups and invited adult members to complete a survey. Participants were asked about their experiences with prescription drug prescriptions and their motivation for joining support groups.
The results, published in the May edition of the Australian Journal of Primary HealthResearch found that participants repeatedly reported a perceived lack of skills in their doctor’s prescription of medications and did not feel involved in treatment decisions. They found that withdrawal symptoms were also not addressed.
Coe said that although her study was small, with 30 participants, it was essential to develop evidence-based support because drug prescriptions are a growing concern among patients and doctors.
“Because of the withdrawal symptoms, patients end up returning to the medication, thinking they are experiencing a relapse into depression, when that may not be the case at all,” Coe said. “But neither the patient nor the GP is informed or skilled enough to guide them through that withdrawal, to a successful taper at the end.”
Coe said the findings should not be construed as criticism of doctors.
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“There’s so little consistent information out there for them too, and they really want to educate themselves in this area, but there just aren’t a lot of opportunities,” she said.
The director of Monash University’s Center for Women’s Mental Health Education and Research, Prof Jayashri Kulkarni, said doctors sometimes use compounding pharmacists, who can prepare smaller doses of medicines than are available from the manufacturer, causing patients can lose weight. medications more slowly.
But these individually tailored doses are more expensive for the patient, she said.
Coe and Kulkarni emphasized that antidepressants were an important, life-saving treatment for many people.
“But I think sometimes doctors are better off telling people about the physical side effects they may experience when they stop taking the drugs, which can be very different from feelings of sadness, loss of energy and cognitive slowness that accompany a return of a depression,” Kulkarni said.
“It could be about saying, ‘Here’s a list of symptoms, let’s share them and talk about them as you experience them.’ And you probably have to see the patient more often, because you don’t want to see a recurrence of the depression.”