The pendulum has swung between extremes in terms of the perceived value or effectiveness of psychotropic medications, with the truth perhaps being somewhere in the middle.  The general public and patients are now recognizing that psychotropic medications have limits to how much they can be helpful.  Meanwhile, evidence-based treatments can be utilized to help an individual reduce psychotropic medications.  And, there has been some research providing guidance for how to taper in ways that reduce the chance of relapse (e.g., see Otto et al.).    Participants will learn about situations that may be appropriate for tapering, what behavioral treatments may enable reduction of medications, and how to collaborate with prescribers to help patients taper or reduce medications while minimizing the risk of relapse.

1)     Participants will be able to:

a)     Summarize how to collaborate with the legal prescriber.

b)    Summarize when and how a taper might proceed in at least 2 of these situations:

i)      Anxiety.

ii)     Depression.

iii)    Insomnia.

2)     We will also cover other material including: 

a)     Summary of relative efficacy of medications versus therapy versus a combination for various disorders. 

b)    Overview of what empirically-based practice and empirically-supported treatments are, including dispelling of misunderstandings. 

c)     Very brief overview of pharmacological principles relevant to tapering situations such as half-life and drug-drug interactions that may change when a drug is reduced.