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It really all started when I read a blog post from a woman who went to one of the few doctors to specialize in antidepressant withdrawal. Her doctor did quite a bit of research and realized that even after their serotonin receptors heal, some patients' sympathetic nervous systems are still out of whack, causing what feels like ongoing "withdrawal" symptoms. How is it possible for someone to still experience symptoms even after the body heals? It sounded like the doctor was viewing this from a structural lens, not the mind-body connection/TMS.

But then I remembered the following words from Steve Ozanich himself:

This means that injuries can heal, but the body still produces symptoms that perfectly mimic the injury out of stress. Also, stress can literally hinder the body from healing: https://advancedtissue.com/2014/10/effects-psychological-stress-wound-healing/

It's very obvious to me that antidepressant withdrawal freaks the body out because it has grown used to the serotonin reuptake inhibitor doing its job. The number of active serotonin neurons may decrease. That makes sense. It's going to take the body some time to adjust. That's why going cold turkey can be such a shock. But that doesn't mean withdrawal is permanent, whether you taper down or go cold turkey (I don't recommend going cold turkey, but for people like myself who later found out that their liver genetically cannot appropriately process some of these meds, it was necessary). It is critical for one to relax in order for the body to heal. The body naturally goes into fight-or-flight mode when stressed, and chronic stress leads to the brain making less serotonin:

The people hanging out on these withdrawal forums for years and years without any improvement can take all the fish oil in the world, cut sugar and all processed foods out of their diet, run for hours each day, but until they log off and relax, they're missing something. The dude who still has brain zaps and mood swings five years after stopping Effexor and swears he's permanently damaged? Perhaps it's time for him to take a mind-body approach. He probably would've healed from the withdrawal much quicker had he done so before. This doesn't mean "it's all in your head" - withdrawal is valid and happens, but the mind-body connection runs very deep and can prevent healing.

Some of these forums and websites swear that you have to take tons of supplements, exercise all the time, eat perfectly, etc. to heal. It's true that living healthily induces neuroplasticity and helps your brain start taking in serotonin on its own again. But none of those things ever worked for me, no matter how clean I was living. These people are completely forgetting how much chronic stress and the belief that you'll never heal hinder you from healing. I was told not to drink alcohol while going through withdrawal, but honestly, it wasn't until I started having a few glasses of champagne with my friends on the weekends that I started to relax and feel better.

I once read a post on NeuroTalk from an individual who says they have nerve damage from antidepressant withdrawal. Their doctor said they'd never seen this happen before, but the doctor recognized the painful symptoms and diagnosed the neuropathy. That doctor should absolutely be ashamed of themselves. Nerve damage is caused by toxicity (e.g., crazy high blood sugar over time, binge drinking multiple times a week for decades, etc.), the body attacking itself (autoimmunity), or actual physical injuries (e.g., a nasty car accident). The lack of an antidepressant isn't toxic to your nerves. You just need to relax and allow your body to readjust.

Bottom line: withdrawal is not permanent, and the idea of permanent withdrawal is a myth. Your body knows how to readjust itself, but stress stimulates the nervous system and makes it difficult for your body to repair itself. For some of us, this is far more important than fish oil and cutting out sugar.

Everybody heals at different rates, so don't focus on that. It'll only convince you that a certain amount of time is necessary to heal, and that's not true. The only tip is to just relax the body, know you're OK, and relax. Get back to living life fully without fearing or obsessing over the symptoms.