Urgent need to find safe ways for patients to withdraw from antidepressants, survey finds

More than 4 million Australians received mental health-related prescriptions in 2018-19 some 70% of which were for antidepressants

Despite millions of Australians taking antidepressants each day - using them at the second highest rate out of all OECD countries - there is little high quality evidence on safe and effective ways to stop treatment.

The findings come from the latest review published on Friday by the independent Cochrane institute, which examines scientific evidence to provide the most up-to-date and rigorous advice.