Helping Individuals Withdraw from Psychiatric Drugs

Many counselors, psychologists, and social workers assist clients to take psychotropic drugs but recoil from helping clients to rethink drug use or stop taking drugs. They might fear resisting the prevailing ideology, violating "standards of care," or contradicting physicians' advice. This article discusses withdrawal emergent reactions from prescribed psychotropic drugs and proposes a rational, person-centered approach to help adults stop taking medication. It considers assessment, collaboration with physicians and pharmacists, the client's fear of withdrawal, the importance of gradual taper, and the monitoring of withdrawal emergent reactions. For practitioners who do not personally endorse drug use, it suggests guidelines for adhering to the best standards of care and consent. It also discusses legal and ethical issues related to therapists' concerns and clients' rights. Professionals' and consumers' roles vis-a-vis medication are changing, and a large evidence base documents the risks of medications. In this context, helping clients to withdraw from medications is a corollary to ethical and legal duties to inform clients of the availability and benefits of drugs, and its limits should be framed only by the constraints of practitioner competence and informed consent.