Survey on Antipsychotic Medication Withdrawal – Please Take And Share

I’m very excited to announce the launch of a survey with Maastricht University on antipsychotic medication withdrawal. I’m working with Dr. Jim van Os, Dr. John Read, and Dr. Sandra Escher on this international survey, just released in English with translations to additional languages coming soon. – Will Hall

The survey aims to improve mental health services by better understanding medication withdrawal. Service users/survivors/consumers from around the world gave input to the survey development. The study is sponsored by Maastricht University in the Netherlands; co-sponsors include the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal.

Please take and share the survey here:

www.antipsychoticwithdrawalsurvey.com

editors NOTE:  it’s a long survey…but one can come and go and not do it all in one sitting. (as long as you have cookies enabled on your browser) your answers come back when you do!

and there is a Facebook page here

Press release here:

Media Release: Maastricht University Launches

Antipsychotic Medication Withdrawal World Survey

Date: June 1, 2018

Contact: Will Hall +14132102803  —  will.hall@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Maastricht University School for Mental Health and Neuroscience

PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht The Netherlands

Maastricht University School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, The Netherlands, today launched a survey for patients who have withdrawn or tried to withdraw from their antipsychotic medication.

The survey is online at http://www.antipsychoticwithdrawalsurvey.com. Translations are also available soon.

“How patients discontinue antipsychotics is not well researched in the clinical literature,’ says Will Hall, lead researcher and PhD candidate at the School for Mental Health and Neuroscience. The study will gather data across multiple countries to better understand if, when, and how to best withdraw from antipsychotics such as risperdone and haloperidol, which in some patients can cause severe adverse side effects including diabetes, heart disease, and neurological disorders.

Antipsychotic medications are a class of drugs prescribed primarily to treat psychosis, a debilitating condition which affects more than 21 million people globally according to the World Health Organization. In recent years their prescription has expanded to include anxiety and depression, and antipsychotics are today the third most prescribed class of psychiatric medication. 1.6% of the US population takes antipsychotic medication, according to a 2017 review in the Journal of the American Medical Association (1). Commonly prescribed antipsychotics include Abilify, Seroquel, Geodon, Haldol, and Risperdal.

Lead researcher Hall was himself diagnosed with schizophrenia; he took antipsychotics before discontinuing the drugs and later resuming work. He says the survey meets a need shared by clinicians, patients, and family groups to better understand medication risks and benefits. “One size does not fit all when it comes to psychiatric treatments; our aim is to expand the research base to inform better clinical practice.”

Dr. Jim van Os, Head of the Division of Neuroscience at Utrecht University Medical Centre and a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, is sponsoring the research through Maastricht University. “This survey is the first of its kind to compare a large sample of patients’ firsthand experiences internationally” said van Os. “Once patients start taking these drugs it can remain unclear if, when, and how to stop. The data from this survey will help fill a gap in the existing research.”

The survey is anonymous and can be found at http://www.antipsychoticwithdrawalsurvey.com. It will also available in multiple languages including English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, and Japanese. Patients and former patients can take the survey with or without the assistance of their doctor.

• “Adult Utilization of Psychiatric Drugs and Differences by Sex, Age, and Race,” Moore, T., and Mattison, D. JAMA Intern Med. 2017;177(2):274-275.

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