When Someone You Love Is in Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal

If you have a loved one going through psychiatric drug withdrawal, this is for you.

I went through psychiatric drug withdrawal, and it was a horrible experience. I healed from it and have come out the other side. Now I offer support to people going through psychiatric drug withdrawal and to the loved ones who are supporting them.

Here I want to share some of the things that can really help as you try to walk with your loved one through this really hard process.

My healing journey was several years, but it really does vary for people. And just the fact that you are reading this, and that you are a loved one of someone going through this, you are a hero. Thank you for showing up. I just want to cheer you on.

What Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal Looks Like

The healing process for psychiatric drug withdrawal is often unknown and misunderstood. It is a very, very painful experience, and the person going through it experiences it on many, many levels of their life. It’s very disorienting and confusing and painful. So it can look like a lot of different symptoms, and a lot of confusion, and a lot of fear and dread.

This is not the person’s fault. It is not bad behavior. It is not immaturity. It is not laziness. It is not a recurrence of their original illness. It is not any of those things. It is simply withdrawal.

I know that can seem really strange, but withdrawal can involve many, many symptoms that seem strange and unrelated to the pill, but they actually are related. This has now been documented for a long enough time that we know they’re related, even though they aren’t recognized by the medical community. If you’re having a hard time conceptualizing withdrawal, I encourage you to watch Medicating Normal and to look through some of the different resources on my resources page to understand some of what’s going on.

How Withdrawal Affects the Whole Body

Basically, the person can be experiencing a dysregulation of their entire nervous system. It can disrupt their sleep, their eating, even their digestion, their relationships, their ability to work, to concentrate, even their body temperature and the functions of their brain. There can be many, many strange symptoms that cause a lot of suffering while they’re going through this healing.

This can also bring the person to a point of feeling very, very desperate. Their own body’s ability to regulate has been disrupted, even to the point of their own breathing. All of these basic body functions can be disrupted and dysregulated because of getting off the medication.

It’s still mysterious why this is, because there’s still not a lot documented about exactly how the drug affects the brain and the body. But it does affect the brain and the body. It affects the whole body and the brain. That’s why we often see this cause and effect of withdrawal when people go off.

Different people’s bodies are different. Some people come off a drug and have more minimal symptoms, but for some people it affects them a lot more. That’s not because of anything they did wrong. It’s just the way their body reacted to the drug.

The Safest Way Off: A Hyperbolic Microtaper

The safest way off a drug is a hyperbolic microtaper, which usually takes years. That means the person has a more consistent dose and steps down off that dose over a gradual period of time that allows their body to adjust to the changes. That can minimize the effect of withdrawal and minimize the risk of protracted drug withdrawal.

If your loved one is still on a medication, the best guidance for them to get off is a hyperbolic microtaper. I have resources for that on my resources page, including psychiatrists and medical teams you can use as resources to guide them on a safe taper off their medication.

When Injury Happens on the Drug or After a Fast Taper

That said, some people have a bad reaction or an injury from a drug that puts them into a protracted, more acute state while still being on the drug. Then they need support through that even while they’re tapering. That would mean they’re in a lot of suffering, that there is hope of healing, and that they will probably need guidance through their taper. One of those psychiatrists could help guide their taper to be a safe hyperbolic microtaper.

And some people, when they go off, have doctors who guide them on a fast taper because they’re not informed about safe prescribing. That’s when people can fall into protracted withdrawal, because of the rate of the taper.

Whichever situation your loved one is in, whether they developed an injury while still on a drug, or they are completely off the drug but have an injury from how they got off, either way, there is healing and there is hope. Their bodies can recover from this.

You Are Their Why

But they will need support through it, and a lot of that looks like reassurance. Often people say their loved ones make a huge difference. Their loved ones are a lot of their why, why they want to go through this healing process even though it’s so hard, because they have loved ones they want to stay here for.

Your person loves you, and it’s wonderful that you can love them through this. So I want to give you some tools to help you as you help them.

How to Reassure a Loved One in Withdrawal

So much of this is reassurance. The person is dealing with so much dysregulation, so many symptoms, and so much fear. Fear is a huge symptom of going through withdrawal, and they can become afraid that they will never heal.

One of the big ways you can be supportive is encouraging them and reassuring them that they will heal. Hold a safe space for them where they can be honest with you about what they’re experiencing and those fears. If you can be present for them and listen to them, and then encourage them and reassure them that they will heal, that actually makes a huge difference.

Why They Need Reassurance Again and Again

You might not feel like it does, because maybe then they need to be reassured again. But just because they need to be reassured again doesn’t mean you failed or that they’re not healing. That is just part of this process, the need for reassurance. If you reassured them in that moment and they were able to receive it, that was a success.

Even if they need reassurance again, that’s okay. That’s part of the healing process. So never look at those conversations as a failure just because they need to be repeated. A lot of times in this process, reassurance needs to be repeated because the symptoms are very intense.

It isn’t because they aren’t working hard that they have those fears, or because they don’t believe good things, or have a bad attitude, or are lazy, or selfish, or self-centered, or any of those things. I know in normal life, if someone repeats something that often, it can seem like something else might be wrong with them, or maybe they’re not doing the work to get better.

But in psychiatric drug withdrawal, it’s different, because what they’re going through is extremely biological and extremely intense. The reason for the repeated conversations is that intensity. It’s not because the person isn’t putting in the work. It’s because it just takes that much work.

Caring for Yourself While You Care for Them

That said, it can be very hard, not only on them, but also on you, because you’re the person reassuring them and bringing support. So it is so important that you also have safe spaces for yourself.

A lot of times, people who have loved ones going through this feel bad going on and enjoying life and having a good day, because their loved one is in such suffering. But what I want to tell you is your loved one actually needs you to go on and have a good day and enjoy your life, because they need hope that they can do that too, and that they will be able to do that one day. You having that calm nervous system, living a normal day, is what is healing for them.

So I want to encourage you not to become isolated or shut down or stop living a normal life. As much as you can, live your life normally and joyfully, and enjoy life. Go out for coffee with your friends. Work out at the gym. Enjoy your job, your relationships, and your fun activities.

As much as you can, keep that normalcy, because it is actually healing for them. It will help sustain you through this, and it will help you stay a loving person in their life, because you’ll be sustained.

That’s the biggest thing I wanted to share: how to hold a safe space for your loved one, how to encourage and reassure them, and how to be more understanding of what they’re going through. This is extreme suffering. They’re not making it up. They are going to need reassurance and love and you to hold a safe space. But at the same time, you also need to keep living your life joyfully and keep that buoyancy, because that is part of you sustaining, and it’s also part of them healing.

Build a Circle of Support

It’s also important that they have more people to lean on. There are support groups your loved one can go to to find more people to support them. And if they have other friends or family who can be understanding, who can be part of that team of support, I encourage people to share the burden and widen that circle so it’s never all on one person. Someone going through this is going through a lot of pain, and when we share the burden, we lighten the burden.

If there’s another loved one, or a couple of others, they can connect with, then they have more people to call on a really hard day, and the burden can be lighter for everyone. It can be a team coming through this.

So I encourage you to be understanding of your loved one in the best way you can, to keep living your life well and enjoying it, and to bring other people into that circle. See if your loved one is willing to bring more people in, and who else you can bring into that circle of support, whether through support groups or other relationships.

Real Healing Really Does Happen

There is so much hope and so much healing. I know it can take a while, and it can be draining. Real healing does take time, but real healing really does happen.

As time goes by, the lights will come back on for your loved one, and you’ll get to see them come back to life. That’s going to be such a beautiful thing to be a part of, and you are making such a huge difference by being part of it.

There are also support groups for caregivers of someone going through this process. Just know that we’re cheering you on.

❤️‍🩹 Joanna