Stop taking psychotropic drugs

Many patients want to stop taking their psychotropic drugs after a while.However, this is not always possible so easily. In general, patients should always consult their doctor (psychiatrist) if they want to stop taking their psychotropic drugs. The doctor can then tell the patient whether he or she thinks it makes sense to stop taking the psychotropic drugs or whether he or she believes that stopping them could lead to a quick relapse.

For example, a former depressive patient may think that he can stop taking the psychotropic drugs because he feels much better now. However, if he then stops the medication, the patient may become sadder again and relapse into depression. To avoid this, it is important not to stop taking the psychotropic drugs abruptly but to gradually phase them out.

This means that the dose of the psychotropic drugs is reduced over a long period of time. If the patient then notices that at a certain dose he has increasingly sad thoughts again and finds it increasingly difficult to cope with everyday life, it is important to inform the psychiatrist so that the dose can then be slightly increased again and the patient does not have to stop the psychotropic drug until later. If a patient wants to stop taking the psychotropic drugs, it is very important that he pays attention to his body and mood and determines whether he can further reduce the dose or whether it makes sense to take a smaller dose for a longer period of time and reduce the psychotropic drugs later.

Side effects of psychotropic drugs

Psychotropic drugs in pregnancy should be avoided if possible. The reason for this is that most psychotropic drugs have not been tested on pregnant patients and it is therefore unclear what effects the use of psychotropic drugs during pregnancy can have on the unborn child. Nevertheless, there may be situations in which it makes sense for pregnant patients to receive psychotropic drugs during pregnancy.

This is the case, for example, if a patient suffers from severe anxiety or severe depression. If this anxiety or depression puts the unborn child at risk, there are certain psychotropic drugs that can be used during pregnancy. Nevertheless, it is very important here that a planned pregnancy is always first discussed with the psychiatrist.

It is best for the child and the expectant mother if the psychotropic drugs are not taken during pregnancy and if the patient allows the psychotropic drugs to slowly wear off before the pregnancy. This means that the patient reduces the dose of her psychotropic drugs more and more until she finally does not take any more psychotropic drugs at all, so that there can be no danger to the unborn child from the psychotropic drugs during pregnancy. Here it is especially important that the patient can handle the reduced dose of psychotropic drugs and does not become extremely depressed or anxious again. It is also important that psychotropic drugs are taken which, in case of doubt, cannot cross the placenta and thus do not endanger the unborn child.