Time to come off of Anti Depressants?

[WorriedGinger]

Is there is particular time or reason that a doctor may suggest coming off of antidepressants?

[Sparkle1984]

If your doctor thinks you have recovered well enough to be able to cope without them, they may ask you how you feel about coming off them. This is what happened to me last Friday when I went to my doctor's review. I'd been on 10mg citalopram since August last year, but I'd learnt lots of coping techniques and I said I feel a lot more confident now. So then the doctor asked me if I wanted to come off them, although there was no pressure and it was entirely up to me. I agreed that I'd like to see how I get on without them, and she said to reduce my dose to 5mg a day (by cutting the tablets in half) for 4 weeks and then to come off them totally. She said to come back in a couple of months to tell her how I've been getting on.

Other reasons that doctors may advise people to come off them are when someone is having a bad reaction or severe side effects. In those cases, they would probably switch you to a different type of tablets.