Tips at a glance
Sleeping pills, sedatives and antidepressants can be addictive. That makes the choice to stop or continue is not always an easy one. A few tips at a glance.
Sleeping and tranquilizers: 4 tips from Marielle Brenninkmeijer of Tactus Addiction Care
1. Get Help
“Many people would like to stop taking benzodiazepines (sleeping pills and tranquilizers), but only a few seek help. This can be done, for example, via the aid program www.benzodebaas.nl. Of the patients who complete this program, 65 percent can go without pills after four months. Of the people who try it without this help, only a quarter manage to leave the pills.”
2. Do not stop immediately
“If you do, you can get severe withdrawal symptoms: headache, tremors, sweating, difficulty speaking, shortness of breath, muscle pain … If you reduce under supervision, the withdrawal symptoms less strong or completely absent. The GP can also help with this.”
3. Learn to handle insomnia and anxiety
“With relaxation exercises, sleeping techniques and tips against worrying you can learn to deal with this differently.”
4. Get a grip on mental health issues
“Sometimes deeper fears or disorders come to the fore when people stop taking their pills. These psychological problems are often the basis of the decision to start using sleeping pills or tranquilizers. Seek help to cope, otherwise it is much more difficult to to stop the drugs.”
Antidepressants: 3 tips from Claudi Bockting, psychotherapist and adjunct professor of clinical psychology at the University of Groningen
1. Ask the key question
“Do I really need those pills? That’s the key question. Talk to your doctor or psychiatrist to see if you can antidepressants still or need again. Unfortunately, doctors cannot predict per patient who will benefit from antidepressants. Hopefully that will be possible in a few years, based on research that is now underway. Some people may have to take antidepressants for the rest of their lives. Others are better off tapering in combination with psychological training (preventive cognitive training). Or they can best combine the pills with such training.”
2. Also consider cognitive behavioral therapy
“Some people who have gone through multiple depressions benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy. Also discuss this possibility with the doctor. The therapy mainly focuses on recognizing and changing negative thoughts, and protects against a relapse. For a long time it was thought that people become depressed by ‘major’ life events: a chronic illness, the death of the partner. These indeed increase the chance of a first depression developing, but we now know that recurring depressions are also triggered by minor setbacks: a leakage, appointments that do not go through. Even a flat tire can throw someone off balance.”
3. Don’t quit on your own
“If you are considering tapering, only do this under medical supervision. You can suffer from withdrawal symptoms that resemble the symptoms of depression: flu-like complaints, sweating, palpitations, listlessness, anxiety attacks. As a result, many people still take pills again swallow, even if it’s not really necessary. They think they can’t do without it. It helps if you have a good tapering schedule and if a doctor can explain where the complaints come from.”
Sources):
- Plus Magazine
