Discontinuation of Antidepressants in Remitted Anxiety Disorder Patients: The Need for Strategies to Prevent Relapse

Scholten, Willemijn; Batelaan, Neeltje M.; Oppen, Patricia van; Smit, Jan; Balkom, A.J.L.M. van

doi:10.1159/000350450

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Second, our study was limited to 6-month follow-up. It would be interesting to extend the duration of follow-up to at least one year since remitted anxiety recurs in 24% of patients within 2 years [29] and more often in women (64% within 3 years) [30]. Also, more specific questions about benzodiazepine use as well as urine benzodiazepine assays could have been informative.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balneotherapy Together with a Psychoeducation Program for Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: A Feasibility Study

Maricourt

Gorwood

Hergueta

et al. 2016

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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Benzodiazepines should be prescribed on a short-term basis, but a significant proportion of patients (%) use them for more than 6 months, constituting a serious public health issue. Indeed, few strategies are effective in helping patients to discontinue long-term benzodiazepine treatments. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and the impact of a program including cognitive behavioural therapy, psychoeducation, and balneotherapy in a spa resort to facilitate long-term discontinuation of benzodiazepines. We conducted a prospective multicentre cohort study. Patients with long-term benzodiazepine use were recruited with the aim of anxiolytic withdrawal by means of a psychoeducational program and daily balneotherapy during 3 weeks. The primary efficacy outcome measure was benzodiazepine use 6 months after the program, compared to use at baseline. A total of 70 subjects were enrolled. At 6 months, overall benzodiazepine intake had decreased by 75.3%, with 41.4% of patients completely stopping benzodiazepine use. The results also suggest a significantly greater improvement in anxiety and depression symptoms among patients who discontinued benzodiazepines compared to patients who only reduced their use. Our findings suggest that balneotherapy in association with a psychoeducative program is efficient in subjects with benzodiazepine addiction.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balneotherapy Together with a Psychoeducation Program for Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: A Feasibility Study

Maricourt

Gorwood

Hergueta

et al. 2016

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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“…Recently, Scholten et al [1] described the rationale for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in the treatment of discontinuation and persistent postwithdrawal disorders from antidepressant drugs, particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [2]. We would like to report 3 cases presenting paroxetine postwithdrawal disorders [2] treated with CBT.…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

Persistent Postwithdrawal Disorders Induced by Paroxetine, a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor, and Treated with Specific Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Belaise

Gatti

Chouinard

et al. 2014

Psychother Psychosom

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“…Most people with anxiety and depression experience a lower level of functioning and residual symptoms of recurrence even if recovery is achieved (Rhebergen et al , ). Effective treatments, such as antidepressant medication, are available, but relapse rates remain high after discontinuation of treatment (Scholten, Batelaan, Van Oppen, Smit, & Van Balkom, ). Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is effective in improving symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders, and post‐treatment relapse rates can be lower than those achieved by antidepressant medication alone (Cuijpers et al , ; Hollon et al , ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preventing relapse with personalized smart‐messaging after cognitive behavioural therapy: A proof‐of‐concept evaluation

Malins

Biswas

Patel

et al. 2020

British J Clinic Psychol

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Objectives. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can improve symptoms of anxiety and depression, but also reduces the risk of future relapse after therapy completion. However, current CBT relapse prevention methods are resource-intensive and can be limited in clinical practice. This paper investigates a personalized means of reducing relapse using smart-messaging in two settings: research and routine care.Design. Study 1 presents a cohort study comparing a cohort of smart-messaging users versus non-users. Study 2 presents time series follow-up data from a case series of smartmessaging users from clinical practice.Methods. Fifteen of 56 CBT completers who participated in a trial for the treatment of health anxiety wrote advice they would want if in future they were doing well, experiencing early warning signs of relapse, or experiencing full relapse. Following CBT, participants received weekly text-message requests to rate their well-being. Dependent upon their response, participants received tailored advice they had written, appropriate to the wellbeing level reported after recovery from health anxiety. Smart-messaging was also trialled in a routine practice sample of 14 CBT completers with anxiety and depression.Results. Across a 12-month follow-up, participants receiving smart-messaging showed greater health improvements than those who did not. Well-being scores showed stability between CBT completion and 6-month follow-up among routine care patients.Conclusions. These findings suggest that a low-intensity, personalized relapse prevention method can have a clinical benefit following CBT for common mental health problems. Practitioner pointsPost-treatment outcomes may be improved using personalized smart-messaging to prevent relapse following cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for health anxiety.

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Discontinuation of Antidepressants in Remitted Anxiety Disorder Patients: The Need for Strategies to Prevent Relapse

Cited by 10 publications

References 20 publications

Balneotherapy Together with a Psychoeducation Program for Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: A Feasibility Study

Balneotherapy Together with a Psychoeducation Program for Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: A Feasibility Study

Persistent Postwithdrawal Disorders Induced by Paroxetine, a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor, and Treated with Specific Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Preventing relapse with personalized smart‐messaging after cognitive behavioural therapy: A proof‐of‐concept evaluation

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