Rebound effect and psychoactive drugs: symptoms and remedies for Fedez’s disorder

Fedez’s statements have once again reopened a very important issue, that of mental disorders. The rapper told through his Instagram profile that he had mental health problems and that he suddenly stopped the drug therapy due to some side effects: this led to a rebound effect, or to the withdrawal symptoms of a drug that have also proved to be very serious. But what exactly are these withdrawal symptoms? He explained it to Gazette Active doctor Vincent Villaridirector of the Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health and Director of Psychiatry of the City of Health and Science of Turin.

Doctor, what happens after stopping a psychiatric drug?

“I won’t go into the merits of the specific case of Fedez because obviously we cannot know him thoroughly, but assuming that we cannot generalize Why the drugs can be different, as well as the reactions of individual patients, remember that psychiatric drugs must be prescribed by a psychiatrist, and cannot be taken lightly or after self-diagnosis. With this important premise, when you stop a therapy there can be two types of problems: one related to drug withdrawal, or rebound effect, or one related to the recurrence of the symptoms for which the drug was given, and the two things can even overlap. In the case of antidepressant drugs, a break can definitely lead to symptomswhich can be more or less intense if the suspension was immediate or rather gradual”.

What are the typical rebound symptoms of a psychiatric drug?

“The most common symptoms are represented by general malaise, nausea, widespread myalgias, fever, chills or even motor symptoms, dizziness and agitation. As unpleasant as they are, they are all symptoms that have a favorable prognosis, because they will disappear within a week or twoand in any case they will tend to decrease over time”.

Can they last even longer?

“It depends on many things. We talk about one or two weeks in general, but then we need to see if there are interactions with other drugs, if psychotherapy was followed along with the drug therapy, many things. They are complex situationstherefore it is always good to remember that you must not self-medicate with any type of drug, but even less with psychotropic drugs, because they are even more delicate and can be dangerous”.

Then a factor of fear also comes into play, in particular that of not having solved the problem…

“For this we must make the distinction made previously: the symptoms related to the interruption of the therapy pass and disappearthe symptoms related to the recurrence of the current disease may recur and increase, because the drug is ultimately a symptomaticalone does not solve the problems: for that an integrated therapy with drugs and psychotherapy is necessary”.

There is still little knowledge of these dynamics, especially with regard to mental health…

“Fedez’s exposure can definitely have a positive effect, can entice those suffering from mental disorders, which are always widespread and have even surpassed cardiovascular disease: about one in five people suffer from it. When we talk about disorder, we obviously don’t mean the simple malaise, but a series of lasting symptoms that make therapy necessary. As mentioned, I won’t go into the merits of your specific case because obviously we can’t know him in detail, and in general I’m not talking about patients, however his statements can help because there is still not enough talk about mental disorders, and this leads people to “self-medicate” precisely because in this way it is not necessary to talk about it and go to a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. This, I repeat, is wrong: we need to encourage those who are ill to understand that they are ill because they have a disorder that needs to be treated, like all other illnesses”.