This lecture explores safe and effective discontinuation of psychiatric medications. Psychologist, researcher and Ph.D. in psychiatry Anders Sørensen presents current scientific insights on tapering antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, mood stabilizers and ADHD medications.
Although the different medications work in different ways, safe tapering follows the same fundamental principles. Modern research – including Danish research – has challenged traditional assumptions about tapering speed and methods. Current evidence also shows how the brain and nervous system respond to rapid discontinuation and which factors influence a successful outcome.
Clinical practice often lags behind research, meaning that many people are still tapered using outdated principles. This can result in unnecessary withdrawal symptoms, confusion between withdrawal and relapse, and in serious cases complex and prolonged courses.
What you will learn:
- How to plan safe and gradual tapering in collaboration with your doctor
- Understanding why tapering progresses differently for different people
- Knowledge about hyperbolic tapering
- How to find the right tapering plan for yourself
- How to distinguish between withdrawal symptoms and relapse
- What to do if tapering goes wrong
- Insight into how psychiatric medications work and don't work
- The significance of trauma, life experiences and relationships in mental illness
- Psychological alternatives to medication and strategies for emotional regulation
- Relapse prevention and conditions for a life without psychiatric medications
The lecture is aimed at people taking or having taken psychiatric medications, relatives and healthcare professionals who wish for updated knowledge on medication dependence, tapering and concrete alternatives to medications.
Practical information
Admission: 185 kr
Location: Storbycenter Bethesda
