Prisha Mosley looks ahead to life without SSRIs
Mosley says she has taken SSRIs since she was very young; NHS guidance says patients should agree a gradual dose reduction with a doctor.
Prisha Mosley wrote on X on October 25 that she had cried to music that day and was looking forward to experiencing life without SSRIs. She said she had been on the medication since she was very young and wondered what she had been missing. She closed with a line about feeling itself.
Mosley also gave a timeline for the drugs leaving her body. She said people claim SSRIs can take up to a year to completely clear from the body.
The health guidance on coming off antidepressants turns on one point: do not stop suddenly. The NHS advises people not to stop antidepressants suddenly or without speaking with a doctor, and says dose reduction is usually agreed gradually over several weeks or months. The NHS says most people get some withdrawal symptoms when they stop an antidepressant, and that these often stop within a few weeks1. It adds that they can be “severe for some people, start weeks or months later, and last for months or longer,” and that this may be more likely the longer someone has taken antidepressants or the higher the dose.
MedlinePlus, the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s consumer health service, gives the same advice. MedlinePlus says stopping may be the right choice for some people, but advises talking with a health care provider first and lowering the dose over time. It warns that stopping suddenly can bring back symptoms such as severe depression, increase suicide risk for some people, or cause withdrawal symptoms including sleep problems, dizziness, anxiety, or irritability. The risk can also arrive late. MedlinePlus warns that depression or anxiety “might not come back right away” after stopping but “may come back in the future.”2 It tells patients to contact their provider if symptoms return or withdrawal symptoms appear.
For any family weighing the same choice, the guidance treats it as a decision made with a prescriber, not alone. MedlinePlus advises patients to discuss the decision with their health care provider and ask about the risks of stopping and the benefits of continuing2. The guidance names the cost of skipping that step plainly: withdrawal symptoms, or the return of the depression or anxiety the medicine was treating.
Sources
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