There is increasing awareness of the difficulties in coming off psychiatric drugs, with antidepressants receiving much of the attention in research and services. The effects of coming off antipsychotics have been less well explored, and the difficulty of distinguishing between withdrawal effects and relapse may lead to drugs being restarted or doses increased.

The event aims to explore the lived experience perspective when attempting to distinguish withdrawal effects from relapse.

Professor Joanna Moncrieff will introduce the event. Psychiatric drug withdrawal expert Dr Mark Horowitz will discuss some of the most recent research in this area, joined by a panel including service users and carers to have a lively discussion of their different experiences.

The first hour will be the talk and panel discussion, and there will then be half an hour for questions from the audience. Conversation and the sharing of experiences will be encouraged in the chat.

Panel members:

Jonny Benjamin: Jonny is an author, filmmaker and founder of youth mental health charity, Beyond. He was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder at the age of 20 and uses his lived experience throughout his work.

Sandra Jayacodi: Sandra advocates for open conversation at the earliest possible between service user and clinicians about the side effects of antipsychotic drugs, the possibilities of reducing and the distinction between withdrawn symptoms and relapse.

Ruth Smith: Ruth is a family member/carer of someone who has lived experience of psychosis. She is also a co- applicant and member of the Lived Expereince Advisory Panel (LEAP) on the Research into Antipsychotic Discontinuation and Reduction (RADAR) study.

Katherine Darton: Katherine worked in Mind’s Information team for 22 years, with a special interest in medication. She is also am a co-applicant on the RADAR study and LEAP member.

This event is funded by the UCL Beacon Bursary public engagement fund and will take place on Zoom. We will email you a Zoom link on the day, thank you for joining us.

Please note that the event will be recorded.

Related resources:

The Withdrawal Project: https://withdrawal.theinnercompass.org/

Harm Reduction Guide to Coming off Psychiatric Drugs and Withdrawal by Will Hall: https://willhall.net/comingoffmeds/

Mind: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/medication-coming-off/deciding-to-come-off-medication/

The Inner Compass initiative: https://www.theinnercompass.org/