It's safe to slowly taper some people off antidepressants after their depression fades, rather than continuing the drugs indefinitely, a new evidence review says.
People who slowly tapered off antidepressants while receiving psychological counseling had a similar risk of relapse to those who kept taking the drugs with or without therapy, researchers report in the January 2026 issue of The Lancet Psychiatry.
"Our findings suggest that while antidepressants are effective in preventing depressive relapses, they do not need to be a long-term treatment for everyone," lead researcher Debora Zaccoletti said in a news release. She's a research scholar in psychiatry at the University of Verona in Italy.
However, the researchers emphasized that the results don't mean antidepressants are unnecessary or that therapy alone is adequate -- only that some individuals can be slowly weaned off the drugs without risk of relapse.
Slow tapering off antidepressants, combined with psychological counseling and support, could prevent 1 depression relapse in every 5 people compared with dropping the drugs outright or fast tapering, results showed.
