Re: Reasons to stop taking an SSRI
Originally Posted by
Big
Can anyone explain to me the reason why you would stop taking an SSRI like Cipralex.
The reason I ask is I'm wondering if it the drug can permanently restore
your brain chemistry to a more balanced level. Therefore when you wean off the pill, you will be a step ahead from before the day you started taking it.
What is the motive to stop using the SSRI's?
Cheers,
If your anxiety was triggered by external stresses, such as losing your job or your marriage breaking up - the sorts of things that would make anybody depressed and anxious - and then things improve, I think there is a good chance that coming off antidepressants will have no ill effects, and may even make you feel better in the sense that you'll have more energy and your brain will work faster.
On the other hand, if you've always been the sort of person who "worries about nothing", no matter how good your circumstances are, then there is a fair chance that coming off SSRIs will land you back where you started. The process may take a few weeks or months, as your brain rediscovers all the things that there are to worry about. That's what happened to me when I came off clomipramine (a TCA, not an SSRI, but similar in how it works) - though admittedly my circumstances weren't great either.
I've read a fair bit about how the brain works and anxiety is basically self-reinforcing. In other words, it's a lot easier to "let it in" than to get rid of it. That's a basic survival mechanism: if you've been exposed to danger in a particular set of circumstances, even if only once, it makes sense for your subconscious to continue to associate those circumstances with danger, because the price of not doing may well be death.
So if you're temperamentally prone to anxiety, you might go through a period after coming off drugs - as I did - where you feel fine. But in my case the neuroses just took hold again and wouldn't shift. The brain isn't just a neutral arena for emotions, it develops. Just as we lay down memories, we lay down fears. We can't forget the fears, but only try to build on top of them with positive experiences.
Last edited by Franz; 15-08-08 at 18:14.
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