[Discontinuation of antidepressant serotonergic antidepressant]

A middle-aged female patient who had been automedicating with two different selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and a selective serotonin-noradrenalin-reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) was non-intentionally exposed to an abrupt dose reduction upon admittance which caused her to develop the SNRI discontinuation syndrome (DS) ten days later. Discontinuation symptoms are described for almost all major groups of anti-depressants. The absence of typical withdrawal hallmarks distinguishes DS from withdrawal conditions. Furthermore, it is important to distinguish DS from relapse of depression.