🧵1/ The @JAMAPsych antidepressant WD paper by @sameerjauhar @GemmaLewis13 @kalfas_michael & others was supposed to reinforce psychiatry’s party line. It set out to downplay withdrawal, blur it with “relapse” and reassure clinicians it’s “mild and brief.” Instead, it detonated. 2/ The strategy was clear; blur withdrawal with relapse, present a sanitised version of reality and hope patients stayed quiet.

Psychiatrists have spent decades downplaying the severity and prevalence of antidepressant withdrawal. They call it “discontinuation syndrome,” minimise it to “flu like symptoms,” and insist it resolves in a few weeks. Science says otherwise. 🧵 Symptoms go far beyond “flu like.” They include electric shock sensations, akathisia, panic, insomnia, derealisation, suicidality and many others that can last months or years. These aren’t just nuisances. They can be disabling and life threatening.