Deprescribing Antidepressants

The overuse of psychiatric medications has become a growing concern for key healthcare and regulatory bodies. Deprescribing is a positive, patient-centred intervention carried out under medical supervision. It involves reassessing the role of all medicines to determine if any should be stopped - whether they no longer provide clear benefits, may cause harm, are being used for a condition that is no longer relevant or no longer align with the patient's current goals of care.

We invite you to attend an important webinar featuring Dr Mark Horowitz and Professor Katharine Wallis. This session will offer valuable insights and practical strategies for deprescribing. Dr Horowitz will provide valuable insights into how to use the evidence-based hyperbolic tapering approach to safely reduce or stop the use of psychotropic medications, whilst managing withdrawal symptoms and ensuring patient safety. Professor Wallis will discuss details of her RELEASE trial - an intervention designed to support people to safely stop antidepressants.

About Dr Mark Horowitz: Dr Horowitz is a Clinical Research Fellow in Psychiatry with the National Health Services (NHS) in the UK and a Visiting Lecturer in Psychopharmacology at King’s College London. He runs a dedicated psychiatric drug deprescribing clinic in the NHS and is working with NHS England to provide resources on deprescribing psychiatric drugs for all NHS prescribers in England. He wrote the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ guidance on “Stopping Antidepressants” and his work informed the NICE guidance on this topic. He holds a PhD in the neurobiology of depression and antidepressant action and is an expert in psychiatric medication withdrawal.

About Professor Katharine Wallis: Professor Katharine Wallis is Mayne Professor and Head, Mayne Academy of General Practice and Head, General Practice Clinical Unit at the University of Queensland Medical School. She is a clinically active general practitioner and Fellow of both the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. Professor Wallis’s research centres around patient safety in primary care, in particular safer prescribing in general practice.

AUDIENCE: GPs, Pharmacists, health professionals and service providers involved in supporting individuals on psychiatric medications.

SPEAKERS:

• Dr Mark Horowitz, MBBS PhD
• Professor Katharine Wallis, MBChB, PhD, MBHL, Dip Obst, FRNZCGP, FACRRM, GAICD

TOPICS:

• Deprescribing strategies
• Managing withdrawal symptoms and ensuring patient safety
• RELEASE Trial