A quick 🧵 on 3 basic facts about psychiatric drugs that you've likely not been told-- facts I wish my parents and I had learned prior to starting a 14-year old me on a long-term regimen that would eventually grow to include #SSRIs, benzos, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics.

https://twitter.com/APApsychiatric/status/1961116732984078347

There are currently ~65 mill Americans taking psych drugs (according to 2022 @CDCgov numbers)-- many of them for years. Since our trusted psychiatric guild authorities like the APA don't seem to be sharing these basic facts, it's up to us to inform ourselves.

Let's dive in 👇

1/ Currently, people who are thinking about coming off SSRIs or other psych meds are faced with a serious dilemma: there are ZERO SAFE OFF-RAMPS from psychiatric drugs available within the conventional mental health system. 🧵🧵🧵 2/ In the rare instances that tapering-- euphemistically called "discontinuation"-- is discussed by official authorities, recommendations are FAR TOO FAST, leading many people to experience debilitating, prolonged withdrawal symptoms that are often mistaken for a "relapse."

So many people rely on painful memories of past catastrophes from the last time they stopped their psychiatric meds as justification for why they need to be on them, or proof of how #mentallyill they are. For years, I was one of these people. What most if not all of us aren't told prior to starting these meds is that the human brain will compensate for the ongoing presence of a psychoactive chemical (which all psychiatric drugs are), changing its structure and functioning in order to maintain a state of homeostasis.