[Withdrawal syndrome caused by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: apropos of a case]

During the past 4 years, several case reports have been published on the withdrawal syndrome which may be observed after acute interruption of a treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibiting antidepressants (SSRI). Paroxetine is the most frequently cited antidepressant in the literature, whereas fluoxetine is the less frequently cited of this type of drugs. The withdrawal symptoms appear a few days after stopping treatment or after a decrease of the dose. The typical symptoms are of the gastro-intestinal type, such as loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Other symptoms are sensation of instability, vertigo, dizziness, headache, malaise, muscular pains, asthenia, as well as a syndrome of pseudo-influenza. Brief electric shocks throughout the body, which last one or two seconds, have also been reported. A case is reported in detail by the authors, who observed some of these symptoms in a patient after stopping his treatment with paroxetine. This withdrawal syndrome may be due to a rebound phenomenon of the serotonergic systems after interruption of the treatment with SSRIs. It is, therefore, recommended that treatment with SSRIs is progressively stopped over a period of several weeks.