Overview of #678 - Psych Med Withdrawal Expert Laura Delano
Theo Von speaks with Laura Delano, author of Unshrunk and founder of the Inner Compass Initiative, about psychiatric medication, diagnosis, withdrawal, and what informed tapering can look like. Laura shares her personal story of being diagnosed as a teen, placed on multiple psychiatric drugs, becoming more disabled over time, and eventually discovering that what she had been told was “treatment-resistant illness” may have been, in part, medication harm and withdrawal. Theo also opens up about his own antidepressant experience and attempts to get off medication.
Laura Delano’s Personal Story
Childhood and early diagnosis
- Laura grew up in an affluent Connecticut town, where she was a high-achieving “good girl,” athlete, and student.
- At 13, she had a profound out-of-body / identity crisis while looking in the mirror, which led to a breakdown at home.
- After being sent to a therapist and then a psychiatrist, she was diagnosed after roughly one hour with bipolar disorder and placed on Depakote and Prozac.
What followed
- Over time, she was given more medications, therapy, hospitalizations, and increasingly medicalized labels.
- She describes the diagnosis as giving her an immediate sense of relief and purpose, but says her life got worse as the medication load increased.
- By her mid-20s, she had major physical, emotional, and social decline: weight gain, digestive and skin issues, hair loss, numbness, disconnection, and repeated hospitalizations.
- She eventually overdosed in 2008 and survived after being medically revived.
Core Arguments About Psychiatry and Mental Health
Diagnosis is often subjective
- Laura argues that psychiatric diagnoses are not based on biological tests.
- She explains that the DSM is a set of subjective categories used by clinicians, not a definitive scientific test.
- Her point: people can be deeply suffering, but that suffering does not automatically mean there is a discrete brain disease.
The mental health crisis is broader than “brain chemistry”
- She and Theo discuss how modern life can produce real suffering:
- financial stress
- rising rent and economic strain
- screens and constant stimulation
- industrial food
- loss of community
- individualism and isolation
- Laura argues many people are having healthy responses to unhealthy conditions, but those responses get labeled as pathology.
Overmedicalization
- A major theme is that normal human experiences like heartbreak, grief, anxiety, and adolescence are often medicalized.
- Laura says the culture has forgotten how to bear suffering and instead rushes to fix it with pills.
- She emphasizes that this is not a blanket rejection of medication, but a critique of how quickly it becomes the default.
Coming Off Medication: Withdrawal vs. Relapse
The big misconception
- Laura says many people are told that if they feel awful after stopping medication, their illness is returning.
- Her view: in many cases, what people are experiencing is withdrawal, not relapse.
Physical dependence
- She explains the difference between addiction and dependence:
- Addiction = cravings and compulsive use
- Physical dependence = the body adapts to the drug and destabilizes when it’s removed
- She stresses that all antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and benzodiazepines can cause physical dependence.
Why tapering matters
- Laura says she came off five medications in six months, which she now considers far too fast.
- She explains that psychiatric meds should generally be tapered slowly and individually, often using a hyperbolic taper:
- reduce by about 5–10% per month
- make smaller cuts as the dose gets lower
- She notes that many doctors recommend cuts that are too large and too fast.
Practical tapering tools
- Compounding pharmacies
- Liquid formulations
- Carefully measured suspensions
- Community support from others who have tapered successfully
Theo’s Own Experience
- Theo shares that he has been trying to get off antidepressants and has struggled with feeling emotionally dulled, less clear, and less connected to his own instincts.
- He describes how getting off medication incorrectly made him feel unsafe and mentally “off,” leading him to restart recently.
- Laura validates his experience and says many people do not realize they are in withdrawal because they’ve been taught to interpret it as relapse.
- Theo also mentions working with psychiatrist/researcher Dr. Mark Horowitz, who is known for tapering work.
Sexual Side Effects and PSSD
A major hidden harm
- Laura says one of the most devastating effects of long-term psych meds can be loss of sexuality, intimacy, and emotional connection.
- She discusses:
- reduced libido
- numbness
- inability to orgasm
- emotional flattening
- She references PSSD (post-SSRI sexual dysfunction), where sexual side effects persist long after stopping antidepressants.
Why it matters
- She argues that sexuality is tied not just to sex, but also to:
- vitality
- creativity
- bonding
- music and art
- feeling alive
Inner Compass Initiative, Policy, and the Bigger Picture
Laura’s nonprofit
- Laura founded the Inner Compass Initiative, which provides:
- education on psychiatric drugs and withdrawal
- tapering resources
- free guides/manuals
- community support for people trying to get off medication safely
Culture and policy
- She says people need:
- informed consent
- clearer off-ramps from meds
- better clinician training
- more non-drug options
- She notes that some policy conversations are beginning to shift toward deprescribing and safer tapering support.
Main Takeaways
- Psychiatric suffering is real, but it is not always caused by a brain disease.
- Many medications are prescribed without full information about long-term effects or withdrawal.
- Stopping psychiatric drugs abruptly can create severe withdrawal symptoms that are often mistaken for relapse.
- Safe tapering usually needs to be slow, individualized, and well-supported.
- Community, honest self-reflection, sleep, food, sunlight, and meaning matter a great deal.
- Laura’s message is not “never take meds,” but get fully informed so you can make true choices.
Helpful Resources Mentioned
- Inner Compass Initiative:
theinnercompass.org - Laura’s book: Unshrunk
- Dr. Mark Horowitz’s tapering work
- Mutual-aid / peer support groups for antidepressant withdrawal and deprescribing