Carol Vlugt

My name is Carol Vlugt; I am the initiator of World Tapering Day Org and I live in the Netherlands. I first became involved with the subject of tapering psychotropic meds in 2021, when I was editing ZWARTboek, Getuigenissen van een Falend Afbouwbeleid (BLACK book, Testimonials of a Failing Tapering Policy), a collection of stories written by people with lived experience of tapering psychotropic drugs.

Many stories were heart wrenching. People wrote about their lives being destroyed, changing from a happy, productive person into a full-time patient, unable to leave the house or have any social life, suffering from unbearable acathesia. They described it as living in hell. Some said they had considered committing suicide. Quite often, I sat crying behind the computer.

My own story
I began to realise (!) that I myself had been using antidepressants for over more than 10 years, and knew nothing about the harm that these drugs can do. My doctor had never told me about it and I had never thought to look up any information. When my own attempt at tapering antidepressants turned out to be a lot more difficult and nasty than I had anticipated, I realised that this subject concerned myself as well.

WTD and World Tapering Org

I decided to create a project about tapering psychotropic meds: World Tapering Day. In 2022, WTD was a rollercoaster of 12 webinars, with speakers from various parts of the world.

This year, we are shifting the focus from World Tapering Day towards World Tapering Org, because it is better suited to our current plans, i.e. the petition and the social media campaign. Let's join forces and fight for change!

Carol Vlugt

* Besides my activities for WTD/ World Tapering Org, I work as a patient advocate for people tapering opioids in the Netherlands. www.opiatenafbouwen.nl