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

I purchased this book on the recommendation of my doctor. I have been taking Zoloft for approximately 5 years and have noticed considerable weight gain and some other minor side effects. Because I reached a point in my life where I felt I didn't need the medication any longer, I tried stopping the medication cold-turkey because I didn't know any better. The resulting withdrawal symptoms (and that is exactly what they were) were very bad. Irritability, mood swings, explosive temper, desire to remove myself from public situations (I'm usually very extroverted), and even occasional thoughts of suicide. These symptoms forced me back onto the medication.This book does a great job at uncovering the big secret that the pharmaceutical companies don't want you to know: that anti-depressants can be very addictive and can cause withdrawal symptoms that are, in many cases, worse than the reasons you went on the drug in the first place. Dr. Glenmullen does an excellent job of uncovering the widespread industry cover up, including looking into confidential internal memos by GlaxoSmithKlein and other Big Pharma companies. He shows how many supposed "independent" psychiatrists are being paid by pharmaceutical companies to rubber stamping their signatures onto studies bought for and written by the pharmaceutical companies themselves. He demonstrates how pharmaceutical companies rig their internal studies to show other SSRIs in a bad light, while showing theirs as being completely harmless. As well, Dr. Glenmullen shows how the FDA is dropping the ball on protecting the consumer by allowing the pharmaceutical companies to use phrases such as "anti-depressant discontinuation symptoms" as a euphemism for "withdrawal symptoms", since the latter connotes addiction.Ultimately, Dr. Glenmullen shows the individual how to taper off the anti-depressant in a safe and controllable way. I'm currently one month into my taper, and am feeling very good. I'm grateful for this book, and even more grateful for my doctor who is aware of this problem. I wish more doctors would read this book. Four stars because there is a lot of redundancy in the book (repetition of the withdrawal symptoms), and some of the most interesting facts about how Big Pharma and the FDA are lying to the public is found in the Afterword, not in the meat of the book itself.

Have been trying to get off Zoloft for years. Was put on Sertralin 20 yrs ago. Became allergic to generic, had to go on Brand name. Very,very,very expensive. Tried twice to go from 100 to 50mg as instructed by doctor and had very bad heart palpitations. Finally, after much prayer, found Dr. Glenmullen's book in the library. Took effort and two years to get down to 50mg. Went thru withdrawal at that dose, anger, depression, etc. Then became allergic to brand name. Tried 25mg but still bad hives. Quit 50mg cold turkey and aside from some residual hives--I haven't felt so normal in years. Now three weeks into no Zoloft. This book helped me to get off this stuff. Doctors too many times don't know that you MUST taper off very,very slowly - 10% down and, depending how many years you were taking the drug, how long between cutting the dose down another 10%. You may get rebound depression which is just withdrawal and your body and nervous system adjusting. Antidepressant were never meant to be taken for years anddo things to your body and brain. If needed they are a great help, but are not meant to be a cure but a help. Do your research and learn about what you are taking. You must be your own advocate. For all those who suffer from depression I know how you feel. There can be a light at the end of the tunnel.

The book is clearly written for an educated audience, but not necessarily for a professional audience. It contains advice on how to recognize and measure antidepressant withdrawal symptoms and how to decide whether discontinuing an antidepressant is advisable; it also includes step-by-step instructions how to go about it. The author makes the argument that modern antidepressant treatment is comparable to treatment with a low dose of orally administered cocaine, and he questions the integrity of the evidence presented by pharmaceutical companies about the safety of antidepressants. Discontinuation of SSRIs, other modern antidepressants, as well as tricyclics and MAOIs is mentioned, including a brief chapter on stopping antidepressant treatment in children. The evidence base is not particularly solid, but it is the best that was available at the time of writing of the book - a hand full of relevant studies as well as anecdotes about patients that the author treated. My main concern with the quality of the evidence is that the author overly relies on his patients' judgments and self-report. Nevertheless, I thought that his arguments were clear, logical, carefully weighted, and judicious, in most cases. Some reviewers have critiqued the author for claiming that antidepressant withdrawal symptoms will go away if his procedure is followed, whereas their experience was that it took much longer, but this is not a fair critique, because the author generalizes to the average case (and he also provides examples of people who had much more difficulty than average). The book concerns only immediate-onset withdrawal symptoms. Some people have claimed anecdotally that antidepressant treatment can cause long-term problems following discontinuation, also claiming that these problems started some weeks or months following the drug discontinuation; these are controversial claims that the book does not address. Importantly, the author does not come across as an anti-psychiatry fanatic; rather, he comes across as a thoughtful scholar, and he agrees that antidepressants may be appropriate for patients with moderate or severe depression.

Bought the book for a friend and they said they really appreciated it and in time it helped them come off Prozac. I checked out the book before passing it on, and the writer says that Anti-depressants can help some people in certain situations but are given out far too readily, considering the potential problems and risks involved. He also states that the potential difficulties with getting off these pills are often not made clear before the 'patient' starts taking them. People trying to stop using antidepressants (and it does list and explain the different types inside) often have a hard time in the process, and feel that they are not ready / unable to cope without taking them, whereas the author suggests very convincingly that the person cutting down is suffering from withdrawal symptoms from the drug itself and not the depression returning.The book recommends a gradual, controlled reduction of the drug (tapering), and explains a lot of important things to be aware of, both before and during reducing 'treatment', with hopefully getting to the point where they are not needed. The author states that many doctors are not aware of some problems and risks of SSRI drugs, but this was written back in 2006, so hopefully this has improved. Recommended for people taking antidepressants and wanting to get off them, people thinking about taking these sort of drugs, and also family / friends concerned about someone else in these situations. Like i said - these types of drugs may well help some people (depending on the situation), but have perhaps been subscribed to many people who will be worse off taking them, or find it hard to stop using them.

This is a really good book. If you want to come off your pills, this provides a great deal of help and good advice. It might be useful as a present for your doctor who probably knows nothing about the pills he prescribes or their withdrawal symptoms! It also explains why the medical profession is so ignorant about these things - it's basically due to the dastardly actions of the drugs companies who profit by your doctors ignoranceI don't agree with another reviewer who thought it was mainly about Paxil - the same rules apply to the other drugs and the book does tell you about the different half livesHighly recommended

I found this book the most helpful of all in understanding and helping me with the daily difficulty of Seroxat withdrawal. He explains lucidly the whole situation - the origin of the drug, the developing history of awareness of the problems with it, and into the withdrawal symptoms and how to live with them. I found the chart of symptoms in the book so helpful I gave copies to friends and family to inform them what I was going through, and also a copy to my doctor for possible use with other patients. It is a handy reference guide all the time.For anyone coming off this particular drug, and other modern antidepressants which can behave similarly in withdrawal, I recommend this book.

This book helped enormously to put my fears to rest re tapering from my AD. Lots of useful info, however I would go slower with taper than 25% drops, 10% every 3-4 weeks is best, just saying ...

Absolutely brilliant book everything I needed to know!!