Discontinuing psychiatric medications presents significant psychological challenges that often impede patients’ ability to taper off these drugs and achieve long-term mental stability.

In addition to pharmacological dependence, many patients develop a psychological reliance on their diagnoses, internalizing their labels and believing they are inherently flawed without medications. Psychological barriers during tapering—such as fear of withdrawal, emotional instability, and mistrust of healthcare providers—add to the complexity of the experience. For physicians, challenges in deprescribing stem from a medical culture centred on diagnosis and medication prescription, a lack of evidence-based guidance, fragmented care systems, and patient resistance.