Psychiatric Medication and Recovery Education

One of the main aims of recovery education is to support people with mental health difficulties to learn about and reflect upon their life experiences, their mental health difficulties and their recovery. We would encourage everyone to think deeply and openly about what might best support their recovery and the use of psychiatric medication may well be one of the elements of their recovery that they wish to explore. Many people have found that they eventually feel much better without medication, having found other ways to support their recovery.

However, it can be extremely dangerous to reduce or stop taking prescribed medication suddenly or without your doctor’s support. The body gets used to the medication and sudden withdrawal can be a shock to the system. Stopping taking medication abruptly can lead to distressing withdrawal symptoms and/or a relapse of the challenges they were originally prescribed for. Some people have described such experiences as ‘crashing’ whilst others have had to be admitted to hospital.

It is recommended that any reduction in medication is undertaken gradually over a period of time with the support of your doctor.