April Stolen Lives Recovery Support Group with Guest Speaker: Tomasz Starczewski

This is a monthly meeting where guest speakers will share their recovery stories from psychiatric drugs, followed by a Q&A and discussion.

April's guest speaker is: Tomasz Starczewski

Tomasz Starczewski is from Wrocław, Poland. In 2008, after a brief diagnosis of social phobia, he was prescribed paroxetine. Over the next ten years, he was given more than a dozen psychiatric medications including paroxetine, venlafaxine, sertraline, fluvoxamine, bupropion and alprazolam and experienced severe side effects such as emotional blunting, cognitive impairment, sexual dysfunction and suicidal thoughts. When he raised concerns, he was told he had depression and needed higher doses or different drugs. After stopping the medication in 2018, he developed protracted withdrawal syndrome and PSSD, leading to years of intense psychological and physical suffering.

Recovery was slow and non-linear, with setbacks along the way. Around eight years after discontinuing the drugs, he fully regained himself. He has since transformed his traumatic experience into meaningful advocacy, running a website, YouTube channel and social media platforms to support others tapering off antidepressants and to raise awareness of the risks. He is not the same person who once reached for medication,  he is a stronger, wiser version shaped by hardship and healing.

Join us to hear his story.

Cost: £10 donation to Antidepressant Risks to help the running of these support groups