Tatton MP Esther McVey calls on government to improve guidance for those coming off anti-depressants

An MP has called on the government to provide better guidance for people coming off anti-depressants.

It follows the death of the daughter of a constituent of Esther McVey, the MP for Tatton, who took her own life after she stopped taking her medication for mental health problems.

The Conservative MP says a "perfect storm" of circumstances has brought about a growing crisis.

Described by Ms McVey as "an intelligent, creative and hard-working young woman who brought joy to everyone who knew her", Olivia Russell was prescribed Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), Citalopram, in November 2020, to manage her anxiety.

Speaking in a Westminster Hall debate the Tatton MP said initially Olivia responded well to the treatment, but that when the medication was discontinued in June 2021, she experienced a rapid decline in her mental health.

This resulted in a period of anxiety worse than she had previously faced, and she resumed the SSRI in August 2021, but just a month later she took her own life.

The debate heard when Olivia first came off her medication it was without consulting her GP, as she had been feeling better.

But, Ms Tatton says, she should have been warned about the side-effects of stopping antidepressants, and her family were later to discover this is one of the most difficult anti-depressants to come off.

Since her death Olivia's mother Gina has been campaigning for greater awareness and stronger guidance on possible side effects that come with certain drugs.

Ms McVey believes there is a greater need for help now than there has ever been.

The Conservative MP says: "The debate was all about raising awareness of how difficult it can be to come off anti-depressants.

"More people are on them, and they don't necessarily know how difficult it is to come off them, and the symptoms that might happen, and that was what this debate was calling for, greater awareness of the difficulty of coming off anti-depressants."

Olivia’s family believe that even simple measures like placing a warning about the dangers of the medication on the packaging could have a significant positive impact in supplementing the advice of a GP, or guidance in a Patient Information Leaflet.

Ms Mcvey says having met Olivia's mother she was in no doubt that this was a case worth taking up.

"When Olivia's mum came to a surgery in Tatton and told me the story I just thought how brave she was, and really how caring she was for other people," she said.

"She wanted some good to come out of the death of her daughter, and nobody to go through the harrowing situation she'd been through, and so I just thought for the bravery of that woman we do need to raise this issue on her behalf."

The MP says that the Minister for Health, Stephen Kinnock, has agreed to work with her on resolving the issue.