Definition of Withdrawal
As described in the History section above, SSRI withdrawal syndrome began to be called SSRI discontinuation syndrome following a symposium in 1996; since then, the terms have been used interchangeably. SSRIs are not addictive in the conventional medical use of the word (i.e. animals given free access to the drug do not actively seek it out and do not seek to increase the dose), but discontinuing their use can produce both somatic and psychological symptoms.
Critics argue that the pharmaceutical industry has a vested interest in creating a distinction between addiction to recreational or illegal drugs and dependence on antidepressants. Arguments against the use of the term "withdrawal" are primarily predicated on not frightening patients or alienating potential customers who may or may not need the medication. According to the consensus definition by the American Academy of Pain Medicine, withdrawal is a symptom of "Physical Dependence", not of "Addiction" and as such the word "withdrawal" is appropriate to the symptoms caused by ceasing an SSRI.
Regardless of reinforcing properties, or lack therof, a substance which results in downregulation of receptors has addictive properties. Upon cessation, receptor activation in response to baseline levels of endogenous transmitters increases versus the drug-naive baseline, resulting in a disruption in normal functioning of the regulatory system in question.
Read more about this topic: SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome
Famous quotes containing the words definition of, definition and/or withdrawal:
“Beauty, like all other qualities presented to human experience, is relative; and the definition of it becomes unmeaning and useless in proportion to its abstractness. To define beauty not in the most abstract, but in the most concrete terms possible, not to find a universal formula for it, but the formula which expresses most adequately this or that special manifestation of it, is the aim of the true student of aesthetics.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“Mothers often are too easily intimidated by their children’s negative reactions...When the child cries or is unhappy, the mother reads this as meaning that she is a failure. This is why it is so important for a mother to know...that the process of growing up involves by definition things that her child is not going to like. Her job is not to create a bed of roses, but to help him learn how to pick his way through the thorns.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“A bizarre sensation pervades a relationship of pretense. No truth seems true. A simple morning’s greeting and response appear loaded with innuendo and fraught with implications.... Each nicety becomes more sterile and each withdrawal more permanent.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)