Venlafaxine
The Complete Venlafaxine Deprescribing Toolkit
Withdrawal experiences, missed doses, formulations and preparing for clinical conversations.
£19
Explore the toolkitFind your toolkit
Three medication-specific deprescribing toolkits to help you understand your medicine, make sense of your experience and prepare for conversations with your clinician.
Choose a medication toolkit
Sertraline
The Complete Sertraline Deprescribing Toolkit
Withdrawal, emotional and sexual effects, symptom changes and appointment preparation.
£19
Explore the toolkitQuetiapine
The Complete Quetiapine Deprescribing Toolkit
Sleep, withdrawal experiences, appetite, daytime functioning and why it was prescribed.
£19
Explore the toolkitWhy we made the toolkits
People are often left piecing together information from medication leaflets, appointments, websites, forums and other people’s experiences. What one source says can sit at odds with another, and a short appointment rarely leaves enough time to sort it through.
We created these toolkits to bring the important information together in one place — something you can return to, write in, and take into a conversation with your clinician.
Each one is built around a single medication, so the explanations and tools stay specific rather than generic.
What you actually get
More than something to read. Something to use.
Each toolkit is built around its medication — not a generic workbook with the medication name changed.
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Medication-specific education
Each toolkit explains the medicine you are actually taking — what it is, why it is often prescribed, and the questions that come up around that medicine rather than a whole class of drugs.
What’s inside
- What the medicine is in plain English, including the class name people see on leaflets
- Why it was prescribed can matter as much as the milligrams on the box
- Why two people on the “same” tablet can notice very different things
- The details that belong to this medicine — formulations, missed doses, or why it was started — not a generic leaflet with the name swapped
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Understanding withdrawal
A clearer picture of recognised discontinuation experiences — and why they can feel physical, sensory, emotional, or simply hard to put into words. The aim is language you can use, not a verdict on what is happening to you.
What’s inside
- Language for what some people notice when a dose is late, missed or changed
- Why a change can feel “out of proportion” even when the tablet looks small
- Why there is no honest personal timetable, and why that uncertainty is common
- How to describe zaps, sleep change, dizziness or mood shifts without turning them into a self-diagnosis
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Interactive tools
A workbook you can write in: tick what brought you here, record what you have noticed, and keep the questions you do not want to lose before an appointment. Nothing you fill in produces a dose or a next step.
What’s inside
- A starting page for why you came — curiosity is enough
- Space to record a pattern over days, not only the worst hour
- Prompts for functioning, sleep, or the things that are hard to say aloud
- Notes that stay on your device until you choose to clear them
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Making sense of your experience
Frameworks that help you organise what has changed, without asking the toolkit to decide whether this is withdrawal, the original condition, or something else.
What’s inside
- A simple picture of how the nervous system can adapt to a medicine being there
- Withdrawal, recurrence, or something else — three ideas that can overlap in the same week
- The kinds of information a clinician may consider, without a quiz that outputs an answer
- Space to write what you are trying to make sense of before you have to explain it
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Appointment preparation
Help turning a complicated experience into a few points you can actually use in a five- or ten-minute appointment with a GP, psychiatrist or other prescriber.
What’s inside
- A short list of what to take in with you
- Language for the room: what you want help understanding, and what has been hardest day to day
- An optional note you can send or take along — a request for advice, not a plan from a booklet
- Space to write what they said afterwards, in their words
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Evidence you can explore
The words you are likely to meet, and a careful way to read leaflets, forums and charts if you want to go further — without treating any of them as a personal plan.
What’s inside
- Terms such as discontinuation, recurrence, half-life and formulation, in ordinary language
- How to read lived-experience threads as language, not as a forecast
- Why one-size-fits-all charts are not the same as advice for you
- Further reading if you want more depth after the workbook pages
The pages themselves sit inside each medication toolkit. Choose Venlafaxine, Sertraline or Quetiapine above to look more closely.
Built for the questions that come up when you’re thinking about deprescribing.
“I’m thinking about coming off my medication.”
“I’ve tried before and it was harder than I expected.”
“I’m experiencing things I don’t know how to describe.”
“I want to understand my medication before speaking to my doctor.”
“I’ve read so much conflicting information online that I don’t know what to believe.”
These toolkits are educational resources. They do not provide individual tapering schedules or replace personalised medical care.
Clinically reviewed by
Dr Suraj Gogoi
Consultant Psychiatrist
Created by The Holistic Psychiatry Clinic
These toolkits were developed to make complex, medication-specific information clearer, more practical and easier for patients to use.
- Evidence-informed
- Medication-specific
- Designed for patients
Questions about the toolkits
Is this a tapering plan?
No. The toolkit is an educational workbook. It helps you understand your medication, organise what you have noticed, and prepare for a conversation with a clinician. It does not tell you whether to reduce, hold, stop or restart, and it does not give you a personal tapering schedule.
Will the toolkit tell me how much medication to reduce?
No. It will not recommend a dose, a percentage, a number of weeks, or a next step. Those decisions belong with you and an appropriate healthcare professional who knows your history. The toolkit is there so you can arrive at that conversation with a clearer picture of your experience.
Who is this for?
It is for people who are thinking about deprescribing and want something more usable than scattered leaflets, forums and search results. That includes people who are curious about coming off, people who have tried before and found it harder than expected, and people who want to understand their medication before speaking to a doctor. It is not a crisis service and it is not a substitute for clinical care.
Can I use it if I have already started reducing my medication?
Yes. You can use the explanations, recording pages and appointment tools at any stage — including if a reduction has already begun. The toolkit still does not assess symptoms or advise what to do next. If you feel unwell, contact your usual clinician, NHS 111, or emergency services as appropriate.
Can I use this alongside my GP or psychiatrist?
Yes. The appointment-preparation pages are designed to sit alongside existing care. They help you turn a complicated experience into something easier to describe in a short appointment. The toolkit does not replace your GP, psychiatrist, pharmacist or any other clinician involved in your care.
How is this different from free information online?
A lot of deprescribing information is generic, conflicting, or written for a different medication. Each toolkit brings medication-specific explanations, interactive reflection, recording space and appointment preparation into one structured resource. It is still educational — it is not a personal medical opinion about you.
Is each toolkit actually specific to that medication?
Yes. The Venlafaxine, Sertraline and Quetiapine toolkits are written separately. The topics, language and tools follow the questions that come up around that medicine — for example formulations and missed doses for venlafaxine, emotional and sexual effects for sertraline, and sleep or daytime functioning for quetiapine. It is not one workbook with the name swapped.
What do I get for £19?
You get a medication-specific fillable PDF toolkit: plain-English education, visual explanations of recognised withdrawal experiences, space to record what matters to you, frameworks for making sense of change, appointment-preparation tools, and further reading if you want to go deeper. It is something to use, not only something to read.
Can I save my answers?
After purchase you download a fillable PDF. You can type into the boxes in Preview, Acrobat or another PDF reader, or print the pages and write by hand. Extra log sheets are already included; print a log page again if you need more space.
Can I print the toolkit?
Yes. The purchased toolkit is a PDF designed for both on-screen filling and printing. Print the whole booklet, or reprint individual log pages when you need more blank sheets.
What happens after I buy it?
Purchase and access details will be shown clearly before checkout once the delivery method is finalised. You will not be asked to complete payment on this page yet.
Is this medical advice?
No. The toolkit does not prescribe, assess, diagnose or decide what you should do with your medication. Buying or using it does not create a clinical relationship with The Holistic Psychiatry Clinic. If you want personalised advice, you can enquire about a consultation.
These toolkits are educational resources. They do not provide individual tapering schedules or replace personalised medical care.
Looking for individual support instead?
A toolkit can help you understand and prepare. It cannot tell you what you personally should do with your medication.
If you are looking for personalised clinical assessment and advice, you can enquire about an appointment with The Holistic Psychiatry Clinic.
You don’t need to have all the answers before your next conversation.
Start by understanding the medication you’re taking.
Find the toolkit for your medication