Will Stopping Medication Lead to Withdrawal Symptoms?
It is useful to distinguish between 'withdrawal symptoms', experienced as a result of physiological dependence, and discontinuation effects.
Technically, the phrase 'withdrawal symptom' applies only to drugs which produce dependence. For example, ethanol (alcohol) produces very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms called Delirium Tremens (DTs). Only a few medications used in mental health produce dependence, and thus only a few actually have 'withdrawal symptoms' in the strict sense of the word. (One drug included here which does have withdrawal symptoms is Alprazolam, or Xanax; another is Zolpidem, sold as Ambien or Stilnoct)
However, many medications may produce 'discontinuation effects', including the reappearance of symptoms -- and in some cases, such as some treatments for Bipolar Disorder, stopping medications suddenly can be very dangerous.
Wherever possible, it is best to seek the advice of a physician before discontinuing any medication.
This page was last reviewed by , Tuesday, 22 April 2008.
The URL of this page is:
http://counsellingresource.com/medications/drug-pages/about-withdrawal.html
