Are you going through withdrawal? Share this with your closest people, to help them support you and understand what you're going through.
Psychiatric drug withdrawal can feel like watching someone you love disappear into a fog. Their body hurts, their mind races, and they’re overwhelmed by fears and symptoms they’ve never experienced before. If you’re supporting someone through this, you probably feel helpless, confused, or maybe even scared yourself.
You’re not alone. And your love matters more than you think.
I’m now offering coaching sessions for those going through withdrawal. If you’d like someone to walk with you through this season, I would love to meet with you. My withdrawal was brutal. I know how dark it can get. I also know how real healing is. I’m now in a place of joy, health, and full life, and I want to support you on your way there.
👉 Go here to see my calendar and schedule a session
What Is Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal?
Withdrawal happens when someone experiences severe symptoms after stopping psychiatric medication. This might follow a doctor-recommended taper, a cold turkey stop, or medical advice that turns out to be poorly informed.
Many people find themselves in this situation, no longer on their meds and suddenly overwhelmed with symptoms that can be excruciating.
These symptoms can range from flu-like aches, fatigue, and pain to mental struggles like looping thoughts, panic, and the inability to concentrate. It can be a full-body dysregulation, where the nervous system is trying to remember how to function on its own.
Even when the medication has cleared from the system, the body still has to re-learn how to regulate heart rate, hormones, digestion, dopamine, and all the things the drug was helping manage. It’s as if every internal control system is rebooting. That’s why symptoms can feel extreme and unfamiliar.
What It Means for You as a Loved One
Your loved one might not be able to do what they used to. Maybe they used to work full time and now they can only manage part-time. Maybe they exercised regularly and now can barely go for a walk. Maybe they handled the cooking, the errands, the house, now they can't even get out of bed.
This doesn't mean they're lazy or giving up. It means their body and brain are using everything they have just to survive.
It’s good for them to do normal life things when they can, but figuring out that balance is tricky. Some days will be better than others. They may try to push through and end up back in bed sobbing, sick, and terrified. That doesn’t mean they failed. It means their system isn’t ready yet.
Your role might include adjusting expectations. More takeout. Less laundry. Cancelled plans. Quiet evenings at home. Life may not look the same for a while.
But as they heal, things shift. They'll slowly re-enter life. You’ll see flickers of their old self return, and eventually, more than flickers.
What They're Experiencing Internally
Withdrawal creates a kind of catastrophic fear that’s hard to describe. Their sense of reality may be altered by the chemical chaos in their body. Terror, panic, and a sense of doom can take over.
They may loop endlessly about why they're the one person who won't heal. Why their case is uniquely awful. Why everyone else recovered, but they won’t.
And they might sound convincing. Logical, even.
That’s when they need you to say it anyway:
“You will heal.”
“You’re not alone.”
“This won’t last forever.”
“Other people have come through this, and you will too.”
They may need to hear this a hundred times before they believe it once. Say it anyway. Your steady reassurance, spoken calmly, consistently, can anchor them when everything feels like it’s spinning.
When Reassurance Feels Exhausting
Yes, it might get old. You might feel like a broken record. But keep going.
They might cry, panic, or insist something is horribly wrong. They might question their sanity, their body, their future. This is normal in withdrawal. And it’s not permanent.
It may get worse before it gets better, but better does come. Not just better… but med-free and better. That’s a freedom worth fighting for.
Why Your Support Matters So Much
Many people who make it through psychiatric withdrawal say the same thing: “I stayed alive because someone loved me enough to keep believing.”
That someone might be you.
You’re not just helping them survive this. You’re building something, something strong enough to weather this storm and come out with deeper love and resilience on the other side.
There’s something powerful and unshakeable that grows when people stay with each other in suffering. It becomes the foundation for a more beautiful life together afterward.
Keep Looking Toward the Good
Healing takes time, but it comes. People come through this and go on to live flourishing, joyful lives. They laugh again, sleep again, work again, hope again. Relationships mend. Energy returns. And a new kind of clarity and peace often emerges on the other side.
You are part of that healing.
Just by being here. Just by loving them through this.