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Feeling better is a reason to review the prescription, not pick your own stopping date. Make the next decision with your history in front of you, and book the next check before you leave.
If the medication got you sleeping, working and enjoying people again, give it credit. You can still want to stop later. Just decide what you’re doing next instead of letting the refill button make that decision every month.
There’s no number of months that fits everybody. Staying on treatment can prevent another episode of depression, and a supported attempt to stop can make sense too. Your history belongs in that decision. “We’ll keep refilling it” isn’t much of a discussion.[4]
Feeling better isn’t the stopping date
You may still need at least six months of treatment after remission, when the symptoms have settled. That’s what NICE advises. You count from there, not from your first pill or one decent weekend. Some people benefit from longer. At six months, review how you’re doing before deciding to stop.[1]
Get clear with the person prescribing it about why you’re taking it. We’re talking about depression here, but these drugs also get used for anxiety and other problems. A timeline for depression can’t answer every reason somebody’s taking an antidepressant.[2]
Your previous episodes matter
I’d be more concerned about another episode if you’ve had repeated episodes, severe depression before or symptoms that never really went away. Ongoing stress and other health problems matter too. Those are reasons to talk about staying on the medication. You still need to review how it’s helping instead of treating the prescription as a decision for the rest of your life.[1]
Tell the doctor what ‘better’ actually looks like. Getting through work without hiding in the bathroom is a real improvement. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re back to yourself. We need more to work with than the fact you showed up on Monday.
Staying on medication has real evidence
Here’s why I wouldn’t brush off staying on medication. Start with who ANTLER actually studied: 478 adults who felt well enough to consider stopping. They’d had at least two depressive episodes or taken antidepressants for two years or longer. They were assigned either to keep taking them or taper onto placebo, and followed for a year. That’s the group the findings describe, not everybody who’s ever filled a prescription.[3]
Depression came back in 39 percent of the group assigned to continue and 56 percent assigned to stop. That’s 17 percentage points under the trial’s conditions, not proof everyone needs medication forever. The average age was 54, and 73 percent were women. Some people changed treatment along the way, so these numbers compare the groups they were assigned to, not a year of everyone faithfully staying on or off.[3]
People assigned to stop reported more withdrawal symptoms. Don’t leave out the other part of the researchers’ results summary: many stopped without a relapse. Neither finding lets you call every relapse withdrawal or assume everybody who avoided relapse had an easy time stopping.[4]
The way you stop matters too
Don’t just pick a stopping date. Discuss how you’ll stop and who’s helping. Here’s the comparison in the 2026 review of 76 randomized trials with 17,379 people: gradually tapering with structured psychological support versus abruptly stopping. The supported taper had less relapse. When depression had settled, that approach gave results comparable to staying on antidepressants. The authors had less evidence for anxiety. Notice the support part. The result wasn’t for somebody cutting back alone because they felt ready.[5]
That doesn’t mean any slow taper works as well as staying on medication for everybody. These were different trials put together, with average follow up of about 46 weeks. Use that evidence to discuss your choices. It doesn’t give you a taper schedule or tell you what you’ll need for the rest of your life.[5]
PREVENT wasn’t testing that app sitting unused on your phone. It tested a proper course of mindfulness based cognitive therapy with taper support in 424 adults with three or more past depressive episodes, followed for two years. That treatment didn’t do better than staying on medication. The study didn’t find one was better, which doesn’t prove the choices work exactly the same.[6]
Bring up the part that bothers you
If the medication helps but sex has become a pain in the ass, tell the prescriber. Antidepressants can cause sexual side effects, and wanting to ditch the pills because of one is reason to talk before changing them yourself. Tell them both what the medicine helps you do and what’s happened to your sex life.[2]
You can want the benefit without liking the price you’re paying in side effects. Go through continuing, changing treatment and a supported attempt to stop. You don’t need to defend one choice as the only respectable way to handle your health.
Get ready for the medication review
Put a few notes together before the review so you can get somewhere in the appointment. Use them for the conversation, not as your own clearance to stop.
- Write down why the medication was started, when symptoms improved and what still hasn’t improved.
- Describe earlier episodes, what happened during previous medication changes and the support you have now.
- Bring the benefits you want to keep and the side effects or practical hassles you want addressed.
- Ask what’d support continuing, what’d support a change and what signs mean you should contact the clinician sooner.
- Leave knowing the next review date and who you’ll contact if the plan isn’t going well.
A review isn’t an instruction to stop
Don’t let years of refills go by without discussing how you’re doing. NICE calls for a review at least every six months when antidepressants are used to prevent depression returning. Talk about mood, side effects, what’s going on in your life and whether you want to continue. If something’s wrong sooner, call sooner.[1]
Don’t abruptly quit because a date came around. NIMH also advises cutting back with a clinician rather than stopping on your own, even when you feel better. If the drug seems to be doing more harm than good, contact the person treating you promptly. Missing the next dose isn’t a substitute for that conversation.[2]
Taking an antidepressant for years doesn’t prove the treatment failed or wasn’t needed. Wanting to reconsider doesn’t erase what it helped you do. Go through what’s true now, make the next decision and leave with the next review booked.
Sources
- NICE. Depression in adults, NG222. Selected continuation and relapse prevention recommendations, 2022.
- National Institute of Mental Health. Mental Health Medications. Selected antidepressant and treatment planning sections.
- Lewis and colleagues. Maintenance or Discontinuation of Antidepressants in Primary Care. ANTLER, 2021. Trial abstract.
- Health Research Authority. ANTLER research and results summary. Same trial family, not an independent trial.
- Zaccoletti and colleagues. Comparison of antidepressant deprescribing strategies. Systematic review and network meta analysis, 2026. Abstract.
- Kuyken and colleagues. PREVENT randomized trial. Mindfulness based cognitive therapy with taper support compared with maintenance antidepressants, 2015. Trial abstract.