The Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines- An Interview with David Taylor and Mark Horowitz

08/21/24 • 54 min

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Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health

In this interview for MIA Radio, Brooke Siem speaks with David Taylor and Mark Horowitz about their publication of the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines, which is of particular note since the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines is a leading text in medicine worldwide.

David Taylor is the Director of Pharmacy and Pathology at Maudsley Hospital and a Professor of Psychopharmacology at King's College in London. He is also the editor-in-chief of the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology. Beyond academia, he contributes significantly to public health policy as a member of the United Kingdom's Department of Transport expert panel that introduced drug-driving regulations. He is also a current member of the UK government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and is the only pharmacist to have been made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. David is the lead author of the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines, a role he has held since their inception in 1993.

The Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines have achieved significant success, with over 300,000 copies sold across 14 editions and translations into 12 languages. David has also authored 450 clinical papers published in prominent journals such as The Lancet, BMJ, British Journal of Psychiatry, and Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. His work has been cited over 25,000 times.

Mark Horowitz is a clinical research fellow in psychiatry at the National Health Service (NHS) in London. He is a Visiting Lecturer in Psychopharmacology at King's College London and an Honorary Clinical Research Fellow at University College London, in addition to being a trainee psychiatrist. Mark holds a PhD from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King's College London, specializing in the neurobiology of depression and antidepressant action. He is the lead author of the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines and an associate editor of Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology.

Mark co-authored the recent Royal College of Psychiatry's guidance on stopping antidepressants, and his work has informed the recent NICE guidelines on the safe tapering of psychiatric medications, including antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and z-drugs. He has collaborated with the NHS to develop national guidance for safe deprescribing for clinicians and has been commissioned by Health Education England to prepare a teaching module on how to safely stop antidepressants.

Mark has published several papers on safe approaches to tapering psychiatric medications, with contributions in The Lancet Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry, and Schizophrenia Bulletin. His interest lies in rational psychopharmacology and the deprescribing of psychiatric medications, which is deeply informed by his personal experiences of the challenges associated with coming off psychiatric medications.

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Previous Episode

Our Medical System Protects Wrongdoers and Punishes Whistleblowers: An Interview with Carl Elliott

Carl Elliott is a distinguished professor at the University of Minnesota with joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy and the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

An influential voice in bioethics, Elliott is known for his critical examination of the medical and pharmaceutical industries. His latest book, The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No,describes the harrowing experiences of whistleblowers who expose corruption and malpractice in clinical trials and psychiatric research.

Originally from South Carolina, Elliott's diverse academic background includes a medical degree and a PhD in philosophy from Glasgow University in Scotland. His extensive postdoctoral work has taken him to institutions such as the University of Chicago, the University of Otago in New Zealand, and the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in South Africa. Elliott is the author and editor of several influential books, including Better than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream and White Coat and Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine. His articles have been featured in prestigious publications such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Mother Jones, and The New England Journal of Medicine (as well as Mad in America). Elliott's critical work in bioethics has earned him numerous accolades, including the Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media and a fellowship at the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.

His investigative work has shed light on numerous scandals, including the tragic case of Dan Markingson, a young man who died during a controversial clinical trial at the University of Minnesota. In this interview, Elliott discusses the systemic issues that protect wrongdoers, the personal and professional toll on those who speak out, and the broader implications for ethics in medical research and practice.

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Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow.

To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here

Next Episode

Multiplicity and Mad Studies: An Interview with Jazmine Russell

Jazmine Russell is the co-founder of the Institute for the Development of Human Arts (IDHA), a transformative mental health training institute, and the host of the Depth Work Podcast. As a writer, educator, and scholar, Jazmine works at the intersection of mad studies, critical psychology, and neuroscience. Her work is deeply informed by her lived experiences surviving complex trauma, psychosis, and an autoimmune disease.

Jazmine's focus extends to the intersection of mental health and chronic illness, particularly exploring the overlap of psychosis, trauma, and autoimmunity. This has led her to bridge critical neuroscience communities with the mad movement. In addition to her scholarly pursuits, Jazmine continues to see clients as a trauma-informed holotropic breathwork practitioner.

She is also a co-editor of the forthcoming Mad Studies Reader: Interdisciplinary Innovations in Mental Health (Routledge, 2024). Today, we will delve into her background, her journey to co-founding IDHA, her current work and podcast, and the insights she offers in the upcoming Mad Studies Reader.

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Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow.

To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here