Can I stop my antidepressant now that I feel better?
Do not stop your antidepressant just because you feel better. Feeling better is the medicine working, and stopping at the first good stretch is the classic relapse recipe: guidelines suggest at least six months of feeling well before tapering after a first episode, longer after repeats.
Never stop abruptly; discontinuation symptoms, dizziness, brain zaps, irritability, nausea, punish cold turkey, and slow tapering with the prescriber avoids most of it.
The right version of this instinct is a planned conversation: bring the question to your doctor, agree a timeline and a watch-list, and keep a follow-up during the taper. That way stopping becomes a strategy rather than a gamble.
See a doctor promptly if
- Any thoughts of suicide, of being better off dead, or of harming yourself. Call or text 988 in the US, any hour, free
- Feeling unable to keep yourself safe, or making any preparation to act on such thoughts. Go to an emergency department or call your local emergency number (911 in the US)
- Being unable to eat, drink, get out of bed or care for yourself for days
- Hearing voices, or fixed beliefs that others say are not real, alongside low mood
- A sudden switch to unusually high energy, little need for sleep and racing ideas. This needs prompt medical review
Try the mood check2 min, free, nothing to installThe PHQ-9 and GAD-7, the two questionnaires doctors screen low mood and anxiety with, scored privately on your device.
Mind and sleepA private mood check, and guides on anxiety, low mood, ADHD and sleep
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS · How we review
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