Tapering Off Antidepressants

As abrupt cessation of antidepressant medication can cause distressing symptoms (including and not limited to worsened mood, irritability/agitation, anxiety, dizziness, confusion, and headache), the aim of this study is to compare the tolerance of two tapering regimens with the hypothesis that tapering the antidepressant dose over the course of two weeks will yield less discontinuation symptoms than a one week taper regimen. Additionally, it is suspected that discontinuing medications that inhibit the serotonin transporter , such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI) will have a greater difference in the frequency of discontinuation symptoms between the two and one-week tapering regimens versus antidepressants that don't inhibit serotonin transporter. Demographic and clinical features will also be identified that may predict discontinuation symptoms with the hypothesis that patients on SSRIs and SNRIs may experience more discontinuation symptoms versus patients on non-SSRI/SNRI medications. Whether or not the treatment duration is positively associated with the number of discontinuation symptoms will also be determined.