THE Scottish Government’s psychiatric adviser has admitted that there is no data on how many patients in Scotland are seriously harmed from withdrawal from prescription drugs such as antidepressants, sleeping tablets and painkillers.
Dr John Mitchell insisted that the number of people suffering severe and life-limiting side effects was “very rare”, but admitted that there are no statistics on the problem.
Read more: Campaigners urge MSPs to tackle prescription pill 'health scandal'
Mental Health Minister Maureen Watt also told MSPs that increasing access to psychological therapies would not reduce the number of patients being prescribed antidepressants.
The evidence was heard during a meeting of Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee, which has been examining calls for a dedicated support service for patients harmed by addiction to and withdrawal from prescribed drugs. Currently, specialist addiction services across the UK deal only with people abusing illicit drugs or alcohol, not pharmaceuticals.
The move has been backed by the BMA, which warned that inappropriate prescribing of psychoactive drugs was "leading to a range of health and social harms". Dozens of patients have also shared harrowing personal accounts of being left with pain, anxiety, suicidal thoughts or sensory disturbances.
Asked by MSP Rona Mackay whether there were any statistics on the number of people suffering withdrawal effects from prescription drugs, Dr Mitchell, the Scottish Government's Principal Medical Officer for Mental Health, said there were none.
Read more: Thousands left to suffer from prescribed drug harm and withdrawal
Dr Mitchell, a consultant psychiatrist, added: "The experience of discontinuation effects from antidepressants is actually quite common and pretty much affects every antidepressant from every class, but in general the actual discontinuation symptoms are mild and self-limiting.
"So the nature of really how severe this is and how challenging this is, we can't really define that. These are real symptoms that people have and, certainly for people who are on the dependent drugs like opiates and benzodiazepines, without careful handling almost 100 per cent of people would have withdrawal reactions."
He added that he believed the number experiencing "severe, life-limiting" side effects were "very rare", but that it would be difficult to gather accurate data.
Read more: 'The pressure and pain in my skull is overwhelming'
He said: "We know that discontinuation reactions are actually very common, but the issue is when is that something that people will manage through good communication with their prescriber, and when do we have an unusual situation where more help is needed? It's difficult because where would you draw the line?"
Mrs Watt told the committee that antidepressant prescribing had improved in recent years "from being too often used in less than effective doses for too short a period of time to longer more appropriate durations at higher doses which are more effective and reduce the risk of recurrent bouts of illness in the long-term".
She said that increases in antidepressant prescribing in Scotland indicated better diagnosis and treatment of the condition by GPs, adding "there is no evidence that having greater access to psychological therapies will reduce antidepressant prescribing".
Mrs Watt said the Government's goal is to improve access to psychological and social interventions, such as exercise, in combination with pharmacological treatment.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel