In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Mark Horowitz about exploring expert strategies for tapering off SSRIs and managing withdrawal symptoms.

Dr Mark Horowitz MBBS PhD is a Clinical Research Fellow in Psychiatry in the National Health Service (NHS) in England and an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London (UCL) and a trainee psychiatrist. He runs a deprescribing clinic in the NHS helping people to stop psychiatric medications.

He co-authored the Royal College of Psychiatry guidance on “Stopping Antidepressants”, and his work informed the recent National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on safe discontinuation of psychiatric medications. He also published work on how to safely taper antipsychotics in JAMA Psychiatry and Schizophrenia Bulletin.

He has authored chapters of the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines on how to stop mood stabilisers, antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, z-drugs and gabapentinoids. He is currently writing the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry which will be published in 2023. He is Co-Investigator on the RELEASE trial in Australia evaluating the effect of gradual, hyperbolic tapering of antidepressants compared to care as usual.

He has an interest in rational psychopharmacology and deprescribing psychiatric medication. He has experienced the difficulty of coming off psychiatric medications first-hand which has informed much of his work. His work can be found at https://markhorowitz.org/

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/mark-horowitz