Step 3- What is My Withdrawal Beacon?

Why this step is important

Exploring the underlying reasons why you’re thinking about coming off psychiatric drugs will help you gain a deeper awareness of the role that medications have been playing in your life. This will bring stronger grounding and clarity into the decisions you make for yourself moving ahead.
 

Getting oriented

Many of us have found that sorting through our often conflicting feelings and getting clear about what sits at the heart of our desire to reduce or come off our medications has been essential to the process of planning as smooth and successful a withdrawal journey as possible. In other words, if you’re wanting to pursue psychiatric drug withdrawal, what is the ‘beacon’ that you’re heading towards—the ‘why’ that’s driving you to make the choice to forge ahead into an unknown future “off your meds”? And if you’re considering staying on, what is it that’s pulling or turning you away from that beacon? Your answers will be crucial to understanding the emotional and practical challenges that lie ahead for you, and how best to meet them, should you choose to begin a taper.