North Yorkshire psychotherapist backs safe move away from antidepressant use
It's as a report is warning the UK has one of the highest rates of antidepressant use in the world.
A North Yorkshire psychotherapist is backing calls to help find the best way for people to stop using antidepressants.
It's as academics are warning that the UK has one of the highest rates of antidepressant use in the world.
In England about 17% of the adult population had a prescription for an antidepressant in 2017/18 - around 7.3 million people.
Academics performed an overview of research into the topic and found that while there are hundreds of studies on people starting treatment with antidepressants, there are just 33 randomised control trials which examined stopping them.
The Cochrane review of antidepressant discontinuation examined the studies to try to assess which method is best to help patients stop taking the medication.
A number of methods were studied, including stopping medication abruptly, gradually stopping the drugs over several weeks - also known as tapering - and in some studies psychological support was offered as patients discontinued their medicine.
But the authors said that there is little high-quality evidence which points towards the best route of discontinuation.
Matt Cole specialises in cognitive behavioural therapy, and is based in York and Harrogate: "Medication is useful to allow people to improve their mood, or reduce the intrusive nature of their thoughts, but it should be adjunct to whatever kind of talking therapies are available to them.
"There's a real lack of them talking therapies and that's why a lot of people are spending a lot longer than necessary on medication".
Matt says people often come to him after stopping using anti-depressants and experiencing withdrawal symptoms: "Lots of GPs do it in different ways, some clients search 'doctor Google' and find a way of doing it that way.
"Because it's so unregulated, and it's less standardised, people unfortunately suffer side effects.
"Sometimes they've had to resume the medication, just to alleviate the side effects they're experiencing, and that sets them back."