Richard Smith, PhD was turning leisurely the pages of the New York Times (Sunday edition). A brilliant biologist, he had suffered a major depressive episode two decades ago. At the time, his psychiatrist colleague Robert Wood, MD, had prescribed him a new generation of anti-depressant medicine, touted to have novel mode of drug-action. It took several weeks for the medicine to kick in. Eventually, he would come out of the episode living a normal life and a productive career. But whenever he attempted to discontinue the medicine, various unwanted symptoms would appear in full force. Dr. Wood was of no help since there was no guidance from the pharmaceutical company. In fact, no clinical study was ever undertaken to address how to withdraw this psychiatric class of medicine from patient population. Instead a myth of the permanence of the disorder was created allowing the industry to popularize the class of medicines worldwide as a lifelong treatment. Thus, Dr. Smith remained on treatment, never sure whether he really needed the medicine or a so-called “placebo-effect” was in operation. However, slowly he also developed a new skill of authoring flash fictions in 50 – 500 words, a modern-day phenomenon. He was not sure whether it was an unintentional benefit of the medicine.
Now, Dr. Smith stumbled into a provocative piece describing the research outcome (with some added twist) of two British psychiatric scientists. Like him, both experienced episodes of a major depressive disorder two decades ago, were put onto different medicines from same biological class, and were unable to come out of the treatment for the same type of unwanted side-effects. They also found thousands of fellow sufferers online from all over the world and the stories of their desperate attempts in discontinuation efforts. What surprised them most was the deafening silence from both the medical professionals as well as the industry. That’s when they took up the matter in their own hands. They collectively poured through thousands of scientific papers and online discussions. Then they devised individual slow withdrawal plan (remembering how the individual medicine took time for dispersing initial benefit), notified their intentions to their doctors, and embarked on the journey. Now, after several months, they successfully reached the shore. Dr. Smith read the article several times and collected the researchers’ scientific report from online. Being a scientist himself, he became convinced in their scientific protocol and decided to apply to himself, after notifying his doctor.
It has now been six months since Dr. Smith took his last dose of antidepressant with no residual withdrawal-effect. But, he also lost his skill of writing a flash fiction.
Now, Dr. Smith stumbled into a provocative piece describing the research outcome (with some added twist) of two British psychiatric scientists. Like him, both experienced episodes of a major depressive disorder two decades ago, were put onto different medicines from same biological class, and were unable to come out of the treatment for the same type of unwanted side-effects. They also found thousands of fellow sufferers online from all over the world and the stories of their desperate attempts in discontinuation efforts. What surprised them most was the deafening silence from both the medical professionals as well as the industry. That’s when they took up the matter in their own hands. They collectively poured through thousands of scientific papers and online discussions. Then they devised individual slow withdrawal plan (remembering how the individual medicine took time for dispersing initial benefit), notified their intentions to their doctors, and embarked on the journey. Now, after several months, they successfully reached the shore. Dr. Smith read the article several times and collected the researchers’ scientific report from online. Being a scientist himself, he became convinced in their scientific protocol and decided to apply to himself, after notifying his doctor.
It has now been six months since Dr. Smith took his last dose of antidepressant with no residual withdrawal-effect. But, he also lost his skill of writing a flash fiction.
