Waking Up to Your Emotions 101:

The Other Side of Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal

For many, the conversation about psychiatric drug withdrawal revolves around one key question: How do we taper safely? And rightly so. It’s a vital question—one that I’ve spent the past decade researching and working on with my clients in Copenhagen. But there’s another side of psychiatric drug withdrawal that often goes unspoken in our community, despite its equal importance: What happens when the emotions return?

Because they do return. After all, all the drug did was suppress, distort, or distance them, often making their return feel unfamiliar and overwhelming. That awakening can be terrifying, beautiful, or both. You wake up to yourself, and this can be a mixed experience at first, depending on what and who you are waking up to.

Emotion Regulation: Learning What Medication Once Did for You (Maybe)

As the drug leaves the body, something else returns: the full weight and richness of emotion. For some, this transition is subtle. For others, it’s like waking up after years of being cut off from themselves. Joy, sadness, drive, anger, excitement, grief; emotions previously blunted or flattened by medication begin to re-emerge. I’ve seen people face grief for the first time years after the loss occurred. Only now is their system ready to process it. Others reconnect with long-ignored anger at childhood injustice or awaken to a profound loneliness or pressure that had been numbed into indifference. These aren’t signs of illness returning. These are not symptoms. They’re your inner, emotional landscape returning, and navigating it alone is impossible. We need each other in this situation.

In psychology, we often explore how people regulate their emotions. Do they avoid or suppress feelings? Do they ruminate in circles, worry endlessly, constant seek reassurance, distract themselves, perform rituals, stay busy, self-harm, drink alcohol? Understandably, these are all attempts to make painful feelings go away and stay in control of our lives. But certain strategies tend to backfire, creating more distress over time.

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