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Nov. 30, 2025, 6:00 AM ESTBy David CoxIn early 2023, Liana Shatova began taking low doses of an antidepressant to ease symptoms of a premenstrual disorder marked by mood swings, anxiety and depression. At first, the difference was remarkable for her. “I felt full of energy and could juggle multiple things at once,” said Shatova, 40, a business development manager from the Greater Boston area. Then, after around 18 months on the medication, she started to fear she was becoming emotionally numb.“My best friend’s mom died unexpectedly, everyone was in shock and sobbing, and I couldn’t cry at all,” said Shatova. “I just felt nothing.” When Shatova asked her doctor if she could stop taking the medication sertraline, an antidepressant better known by its brand name Zoloft, she said she was reassured that she was on the lowest prescribed dose and that coming off it wouldn’t be difficult.Initially all seemed well, but after a month, Shatova said she experienced her first bout of what would become chronic insomnia, followed by panic attacks. Other symptoms emerged, including night sweats, muscle and joint pain and mood swings that left her unable to work. She said her doctor told her that the symptoms were a relapse of her premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and suggested a different antidepressant. Shatova declined the new drug.Antidepressants, primarily SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, are some of the most widely prescribed medications in the United States, taken by tens of millions of adults. About twice as many women as men report using an antidepressant in the past 30 days, with antidepressant use highest among women aged 60 and older, according to government data.Side effects are a key reason people choose to go off their medication, but stopping the drugs can also lead to withdrawal symptoms, research indicates. Along with the growing awareness, a deprescribing movement is building up in the field of psychiatry, aimed at helping patients reduce or stop their medications when no longer considered necessary. In a recent large analysis published in The Lancet in November, researchers at King’s College London found that physical side effects, including quick weight gain, significantly increased heart rate or elevated blood pressure, may be more common than once thought, depending on the drug. The review analyzed results from 151 clinical trials and 17 reports from the Food and Drug Administration, involving about 30 different prescription drugs used to treat depression, anxiety, and bipolar and panic disorders. The researchers examined the effects of antidepressants on weight, blood glucose, total cholesterol, blood pressure and heart rate. They didn’t look at emotional changes experienced by patients such as Shatova, although the lead study author said it should be examined further in future studies. “Not all antidepressants are built the same when it comes to their physical health side effects,” said Dr. Toby Pillinger, an academic clinical lecturer at King’s College London, who led the study. “Up until recently, we’ve approached antidepressant prescribing with a one-size-fits-all policy, and I think we need to move away from that.”Separately, in August, psychiatry researchers in the U.K. found that serious withdrawal effects may be more common than previously suspected, especially with longer-term use, although the study was small with just 18% of participants responding to the survey. The results showed that among people who had been taking antidepressants for more than two years, 63% reported moderate or severe withdrawal effects, with a third describing withdrawal issues that lasted more than three months. Symptoms ranged from insomnia to confusion, electric sensations, muscle cramps, agitation, mood swings and derealisation or an alteration in the person’s perception of the world. Dr. Mark Horowitz, a clinical research fellow at University College London who led the withdrawal study, said other research has found that roughly a quarter of patients experience severe symptoms when they abruptly stop taking their medications, from burning pain in the skin or limbs, balance problems, ongoing panic attacks, and sound and light sensitivity. Abrupt cessation of antidepressants is not recommended, but research has found that withdrawal symptoms can occur even when people attempt to taper. A review of various existing studies published last year by a group of German psychiatrists concluded that as many as 1 in 3 antidepressant users will experience some kind of withdrawal symptoms, with severe symptoms occurring in 1 in 30 users. Dr. Joseph Goldberg, clinical professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, said that antidepressants have long been known to cause “discontinuation symptoms,” mainly nausea and dizziness, particularly if stopped abruptly.It’s unclear why some patients have severe symptoms after stopping their medications. Some researchers, concerned by reports of antidepressant withdrawal, suggest that the underlying mechanisms are similar to those faced by people suffering from alcohol and opiate withdrawal. “Withdrawal symptoms tell you that your brain is trying to restore a balance that it was forced to change by the presence of a drug,” said David Cohen, professor of social welfare at the University of California Los Angeles. “I think it’s the best accepted explanation for why stopping any centrally active drug, whether its antidepressants, coffee or heroin, leads to some discomfort.”The challenge for psychiatrists is that the drugs, which are often prescribed along with therapy, do help many people, particularly in the short term. Dr. Jonathan Alpert, a psychiatry professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said that anecdotes of extreme withdrawal do not reflect his own professional experience. In his practice, Alpert estimated that two-thirds of his patients have been on antidepressants for more than five years, and only a small handful had experienced protracted withdrawal symptoms lasting more than a few days.“There’s been this very inflated idea that it’s really difficult to come off psychiatric medications,” said Alpert. “Even though I respect people’s narratives of their own experience, it feels very different from what we see in clinical practice and research studies.”Goldberg also expressed skepticism as to whether antidepressants themselves are actually responsible for the symptoms being reported by patients. “If somebody, after years of treatment, develops some frankly rather peculiar and unexpected neurological problems, I’m not sure how confident one can attribute that to medicine,” he said. “Anything is possible. But I think we have to consider the more likely possibility that the thing they’re encountering may be unrelated.” More than a year after Shatova first attempted to taper off the medication, she said she’s still undergoing a painstaking process of tiny, gradual reductions to try to avoid exacerbating her symptoms. “I am still tapering and now at 0.835 mg of Zoloft, doing it very slowly and carefully,” she said. “My sleep has gotten better, but I still have windows and waves triggered by life stresses and hormonal fluctuations.” It’s important not to dismiss people’s experiences, Goldberg said, and anyone going through symptoms should undergo further testing. A past president of American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Goldberg said that the organization is now completing new guidelines on deprescribing. The goal is to help doctors explain what to expect when stopping psychiatric medications so patients don’t self-taper without medical supervision.Alpert suggested analyzing different types of data stored in electronic health records to get insight into the characteristics of patients who have prolonged withdrawal symptoms. “Do they have abnormal MRIs or blood tests with inflammatory markers? Through looking at large datasets, it will be more possible to identify predictors of this subset of people who seem to have unusually prolonged symptoms.”Cohen feels that the field of psychiatry needs to speed up research. However, in the wake of the 43% cut to the National Institutes of Health annual budget proposed to Congress by the current administration, a figure which is equivalent to $20 billion per year, it is likely that such studies would need to be carried out by either U.K. or European researchers. “We need large, nonindustry funded trials to examine what happens when people stop antidepressants, using various tapering strategies and long enough follow-up,” Cohen said. “We need dozens of such trials now.”If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, or go to 988lifeline.org, to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.David CoxDavid Cox is a freelance journalist focusing on all aspects of health, from fitness and nutrition to infectious diseases and future medicines. Prior to becoming a full-time journalist, he was a neuroscientist attempting to understand how and why the brain goes wrong.

- Latest News - November 30, 2025

A “deprescribing” movement is building up in the psychiatry field, aimed at helping patients reduce or stop their antidepressants, especially SSRIs, when no longer considered necessary.

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Nov. 30, 2025, 5:49 AM ESTBy Freddie ClaytonIsraeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 70,000 people in over two years of war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, as the death toll continues to climb despite the ongoing ceasefire.Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed at least 70,100 people since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 2023, which equates to more than 3% of the 2.3 million people living in the enclave. A further 170,983 people have been wounded.The World Health Organization has said that the numbers given by health officials in Gaza are reputable.A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza remains in effect but has been tested by repeated outbreaks of violence, as Gaza’s residents face hunger, flooding and the onset of a bitter winter.Israeli fire killed two Palestinian children in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday. The two brothers, aged 11 and 8, died when an Israeli drone struck close to a school sheltering displaced people in the town of Beni Suhaila, according to staff at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. The Israeli military said it killed two people who crossed into an Israeli-controlled area, “conducted suspicious activities” and approached troops. The statement didn’t mention children.Israeli strike on Gaza leaves 24 Palestinians dead, dozens wounded00:27Sunday’s grim milestone arrives more than two years after Hamas launched multipronged surprise attacks on Israel that left 1,200 people dead, with 240 people taken hostage by Hamas and other affiliated militant groups.An estimated 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced since Oct. 7 2023, and more than 1.5 million people “urgently require emergency shelter assistance,” the United Nations’ migration agency IOM said last month.Walid Qabalan, a 53-year-old man, now lives with his family of nine in a small tent in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis. On the second day of the war, Walid, his wife, and their children were forced to flee their home in the city of Abasan, east of Khan Younis, after their home became too dangerous to reach.His daughter Amira, who is 13 and should be in eighth grade, instead spends her daily life keeping the family safe.“My days are spent making dough, waiting at the charity kitchen line, fetching water,” she told NBC News.Eleven-year-old Abrar, who should be in fifth grade, left school from the very first day of the war.They took our childhood,” she said. “Our playtime is gone, our home is gone, our memories are gone.”President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan was endorsed by a majority vote at the United Nations earlier this month, though world powers were still divided over whether it can convert the fragile ceasefire into the long-term solution that has eluded the Middle East.Designed to usher Gaza from rubble-strewn war zone into a new era, Trump’s plan would establish a “Board of Peace” to temporarily govern the territory and an International Stabilization Force taking over responsibility for maintaining the peace from the Israel Defense Forces currently occupying parts of the Gaza Strip.The proposal would be “phase two” of Trump’s 20-point plan first announced in September, “phase one” of which brought a prisoner and hostage exchange.Freddie ClaytonFreddie Clayton is a freelance journalist based in London. 

- Latest News - November 30, 2025

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 70,000 people in over two years of war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, as the death toll continues to climb.

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Nov. 29, 2025, 7:42 AM EST / Updated Nov. 29, 2025, 2:57 PM ESTBy Freddie ClaytonJust as peace talks were gaining traction, Ukraine has lost its lead negotiator.Andriy Yermak, an ever-present figure at President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s side throughout the war with Russia, resigned as chief of staff on Friday after an anti-corruption raid at his home, injecting fresh uncertainty for Ukraine’s leadership.The exit leaves a vacuum around Zelenskyy as talks accelerate, isolating the Ukrainian president at a critical moment and creating an opening Moscow may try to exploit, analysts say.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and his chief of staff Andriy Yermak in Madrid on Nov. 18.Oscar Del Pozo / AFP – Getty ImagesThe development capped a dramatic week, which began with Kyiv under intense pressure from President Donald Trump to endorse a plan that aligned with Moscow’s hard-line demands. An initial deadline of Thursday, imposed by the White House, passed without any announcement as Ukraine and its allies pushed back against calls for the country to cede territory.Ukrainian negotiators, led by Yermak, secured changes, and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will now head to Moscow for talks next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russia still wants to move toward peace despite its belief that Zelenskyy was not a legitimate leader.Putin says he’s ready for ‘serious’ talks to end war in Ukraine00:29But analysts warn that Yermak’s departure leaves Kyiv navigating unfamiliar waters, as Zelenskyy is forced to steer Ukraine through high-stakes negotiations without his most trusted aide.Yermak’s resignation comes at a “very bad time, because we’re really at a possible tipping point where you know what Ukraine is demanding may not be granted or taken into consideration,” Michael Bociurkiw, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, told NBC News by phone on Saturday.“None of us really know what Zelenskyy is like operating solo, because he never has,” he said, adding that Yermak has “basically stood in” for Zelenskyy at times.Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, will lead Ukraine’s delegation for a round of talks in the U.S. on Sunday, Zelenskyy said in a post on X. Umerov has also been mentioned by anti-corruption investigators. Neither he nor Yermak have faced charges.Bociurkiw added that Yermak’s departure would be unlikely to change Ukraine’s firm stance on territorial concessions, but that Russia “will try to manipulate and take advantage of this vacuum.”Secretary Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner will attend Sunday talks, a U.S. official tells NBC News. Michael A. Horowitz, a Jerusalem-based geopolitical consultant, echoed Bociurkiw’s concerns, saying that Yermak’s resignation, just days before major U.S.-Ukraine-Russia talks and a potential Trump-Putin summit, “disrupts Kyiv’s preparations and invites counterparts to probe whether Ukraine’s red lines on territory and NATO can be eased during the transition.”But in the long term, Horowitz told NBC News on Saturday, Yermak’s departure could even be a positive.Critics have said for years that Yermak had accumulated too much power and wielded excessive influence over Zelenskyy. A constant presence by the president’s side through the ups and downs of the war, Yermak had emerged as one of the few men that the Ukrainian leader appeared to really trust.Zelenskyy has previously railed against corrupt officials, but signs that a corruption scandal may have stretched into his inner circle may provide more ammunition to critics of further support for Ukraine. Trump-aligned figures, including Vice President JD Vance, have previously criticized Ukraine for its issues with corruption.Yermak’s departure may “reinforce skepticism within the Trump administration” about Zelenskyy’s inner circle, giving them further reasons to push for concessions, said Natia Seskuria, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank.But Horowitz said the resignation “removes a lightning rod for controversy and gives Kyiv a cleaner, more collective mandate to say no to an unfair and unsustainable peace,” adding: “Zelenskyy is getting his house in order.”When it comes to how the rule of law is being enforced in Ukraine, “generally this is a good sign,” said Moritz Brake, a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies.“Of course, it’s bad enough that these accusations existed in the first place,” he added, but “even those in the highest places are prosecuted when suspicions arise.”Zelenskyy said in a video statement on Friday that he was looking for Yermak’s replacement. “Russia really wants Ukraine to make mistakes,” he said. “There will be no mistakes on our part.”Losing unity could mean losing the country and its future, he added.But Bociurkiw said time is “not on Ukraine’s side right now.”If you’re Ukraine at the moment, he added, “you need not only a physical army, but an army of diplomats and advocates.”Freddie ClaytonFreddie Clayton is a freelance journalist based in London. 

- Latest News - November 30, 2025

Just as peace talks were gaining traction, Ukraine has lost its lead negotiator

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