CCHR Says Psychiatry's Admission on Antidepressant Withdrawal Comes Far Too Late
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LOS ANGELES - Washingtoner -- By CCHR International

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) says a landmark article published in Psychiatric Times confirms what patients, independent researchers, and CCHR have documented and warned about for more than three decades: SSRI antidepressant withdrawal is more common and severe than previously acknowledged and frequently misdiagnosed.[1]

For millions of Americans, this recognition is not new information; it is validation.

Since the introduction of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine and paroxetine in the late 1980s and early 1990s, withdrawal risks have routinely been denied, minimized, or reframed. Patients reporting withdrawal symptoms were often told they were experiencing a relapse of their underlying "mental illness." The recent Psychiatric Times article acknowledges that relapse became a "common diagnostic error," leading to reinstatement of medication and "trapping patients in a cycle of long-term use based on a misunderstanding of their symptoms."

The authors also concede serious methodological flaws in traditional relapse-prevention trials that can inflate perceptions of benefit while obscuring evidence of physiological dependence. They describe the current reassessment of antidepressant withdrawal as a "paradigm shift."

CCHR disputes that characterization.

Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, says, "This is not a paradigm shift. It is a belated recognition of a public health crisis that patients have been reporting for decades."

Today, at least 45 million Americans—including approximately 2.1 million children and adolescents—are taking antidepressants. A 2019 systematic review found, using a weighted average, that 56% of patients experienced withdrawal symptoms after stopping antidepressants. That would equate to approximately 25.2 million Americans, including more than one million children and adolescents, who could potentially suffer withdrawal effects when they stop taking the drugs.[2]

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Withdrawal effects include dizziness, vertigo, "brain zaps" (electric shock sensations), paresthesia (numbness, tingling, or burning), cognitive impairment, and akathisia, a distressing movement disorder characterized by an uncontrollable, intense urge to move and severe inner restlessness; new or worsening anxiety, irritability, emotional blunting, insomnia, fatigue, and impaired concentration.[3]

CCHR maintains these reactions are not minor inconveniences but destabilizing physiological responses that can impair functioning and, in severe cases, contribute to suicidal or violent behavior.

In 2019, The New York Times reported that physicians had for years "dismissed or downplayed such symptoms," frequently attributing them to recurrence of mood disorders.[4]

CCHR points to what it describes as a strategic and misleading shift in terminology.

In 1996, at a pharmaceutical industry-funded meeting, the term "antidepressant discontinuation syndrome" (ADS) was introduced in place of "withdrawal." In 1997, experts who attended the meeting published papers promoting the new terminology.[5] In 2001, sales representatives for the manufacturer of paroxetine (Paxil) were reportedly instructed to avoid using the word "withdrawal."[6]

Dr. David Healy, a leading psychopharmacologist, has argued that the term was designed to deflect from concerns about dependence. He and colleagues stated: "In lay terms, you can just as easily become hooked on SSRIs as on benzodiazepines or opiates, and SSRIs can be more difficult to get off than anything else."[7]

ADS was added to the APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and remains in the DSM-5-TR as a "medication-related adverse effect." In 2025, an APA member writing in Psychiatric Times described withdrawal as a "very small minority" who experience severe and prolonged symptoms.

CCHR argues that this underscores the scope of a problem long minimized.

Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring, a U.S. psychiatrist specializing in tapering and withdrawal management, has warned that discontinuation can take months and that symptoms may persist for years. Full recovery may take 12 to 24 months. In some cases, he notes, symptoms can drive individuals to suicidal despair.[8]

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Despite mounting evidence, U.S. antidepressant labels mention discontinuation symptoms but portray them as short-lived and, as Josef Witt-Doerring has noted, do not warn of months-long withdrawal.

CCHR says the recent acknowledgment in Psychiatric Times represents a long overdue validation for millions who were told their suffering was imaginary, exaggerated, or evidence of relapse. "For 36 years, CCHR has documented patient testimonies, regulatory failures, and industry tactics that minimized the risks of antidepressant withdrawal," Eastgate stated.

CCHR, which was established by the Church of Scientology and Professor of psychiatry Thomas Szasz in 1969, says the FDA now needs to solve this problem and take decisive corrective action proportionate to the scale of harm. Until resolved, there must be immediate label revisions clearly warning of severe and protracted withdrawal and the creation of a national adverse-event reporting database dedicated specifically to psychiatric drugs, with mandatory reporting of suicides, violence, and severe or prolonged withdrawal reactions.

Until the FDA and the APA fully confront and correct a crisis that developed under their authority, millions remain at risk. The FDA approved these drugs and allowed labeling that minimized dependence and withdrawal risks. Eastgate adds, "The oversight of agencies entrusted to protect Americans has failed. Recognition in a journal is not reform. Acknowledgment is not accountability."

Sources:

[1] Nicolas Badre, MD, et al., "Exiting Antidepressants: A Needed Spotlight on Withdrawal," Psychiatric Times, 9 Feb. 2026

[2] James Davies and John Read, "A systematic review into the incidence, severity and duration of antidepressant withdrawal effects: Are guidelines evidence-based?" Addictive Behaviors, 97 (2019), p. 111

[3] Nicolas Badre, MD, Psychiatric Times, 9 Feb. 2026

[4] Christopher Lane, Ph.D., "Antidepressant Guidelines to Tighten in the UK: Welcome policy change also reveals scale of the problem," Psychology Today, 31 May 2019; Benedict Carey, "How to Quit Antidepressants: Very Slowly, Doctors Say," The New York Times, 5 Mar. 2019

[5] Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., Prozac Backlash, (Simon & Schuster, NY, 2000), p. 76

[6] "Drug Maker Withheld Paxil Study Data," ABC News, 9 Dec. 2004, https://abcnews.com/Health/story?id=311956

[7] David Healy, et al., Children of the Cure: Missing Data, Lost Lives and Antidepressants, (Samizdat Health Writer's Co-operative Inc., 2020), pp. 43-44

[8] "SSRI Dangers & Tapering Off Safely with Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring," Independent Medical Alliance, 11 Sept. 2025