TY  - JOUR
N2  - BACKGROUND: Public Health England recently called for the establishment of services to help people to safely stop prescribed drugs associated with dependence and withdrawal, including benzodiazepines, z-drugs, antidepressants, gabapentinoids and opioids. NICE identified a lack of knowledge about the best model for such service delivery. Therefore, we performed a global survey of existing deprescribing services to identify common practices and inform service development. METHODS: We identified existing deprescribing services and interviewed key personnel in these services using an interview co-produced with researchers with lived experience of withdrawal. We summarised the common practices of the services and analysed the interviews using a rapid form of qualitative framework analysis. RESULTS: Thirteen deprescribing services were included (8 UK, 5 from other countries). The common practices in the services were: gradual tapering of medications often over more than a year, and reductions made in a broadly hyperbolic manner (smaller reductions as total dose became lower). Reductions were individualised so that withdrawal symptoms remained tolerable, with the patient leading this decision-making in most services. Support and reassurance were provided throughout the process, sometimes by means of telephone support lines. Psychosocial support for the management of underlying conditions (e.g. CBT, counselling) were provided by the service or through referral. Lived experience was often embedded in services through founders, hiring criteria, peer support and sources of information to guide tapering. CONCLUSION: We found many common practices across existing deprescribing services around the world. We suggest that these ingredients are included in commissioning guidance of future services and suggest directions for further research to clarify best practice.
KW  - Drug addiction
KW  -  Antidepressants
KW  -  Drug dependence
KW  -  Mental health and psychiatry
KW  -  Clinical psychology
KW  -  Psychological and psychosocial issues
KW  -  Mental health therapies
KW  -  Social psychology
VL  - 18
A1  - Cooper, Ruth E
A1  - Ashman, Michael
A1  - Lomani, Jo
A1  - Moncrieff, Joanna
A1  - Guy, Anne
A1  - Davies, James
A1  - Morant, Nicola
A1  - Horowitz, Mark
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282988
AV  - public
N1  - This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images
or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license,
unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license,
users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this
license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Y1  - 2023/03/15/
ID  - discovery10166891
PB  - Public Library of Science (PLoS)
TI  - "Stabilise-reduce, stabilise-reduce": A survey of the common practices of deprescribing services and recommendations for future services
IS  - 3
JF  - PLOS ONE
ER  -