Medicated for Life? Antidepressants & Conflicting Science
Summary
Are antidepressants really that hard to stop? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Scientists can’t seem to agree on a definitive answer. And yet, Dr. Mark Horowitz has some 20,000 emails in his inbox from Americans who feel trapped on their meds. With insights from his clinical research at University College London, and his own harrowing journey tapering off antidepressants, Dr. Horowitz, the world leading expert in the science of safely stopping psychiatric meds, exposes the uncomfortable truths behind one of today’s most controversial topics in mental health.
- Format: Fireside Chat
- Category: Fireside Chat
- Event Type: panel
- Presented By: n/a
Contributors
- Kate Knibbs
- Dr. Mark Horowitz, MD
Raw Event JSON
Large nested arrays are compacted for page readability. Full payload remains in dataset files.
Open JSON payload
{
"id": "PP1162509",
"track": "Health",
"focus_area": null,
"category": "Fireside Chat",
"event_id": "PP1162509",
"event_type": "panel",
"format": "Fireside Chat",
"genre": null,
"subgenre": null,
"name": "Medicated for Life? Antidepressants & Conflicting Science",
"presented_by": null,
"publish_at": "2025-11-03T16:30:00.000-06:00",
"reservable": true,
"reservable_id": "PP1162509",
"reserved": false,
"date": "2026-03-18",
"end_time": "2026-03-18T11:00:00.000-05:00",
"start_time": "2026-03-18T10:00:00.000-05:00",
"message": null,
"image": null,
"credentials": [
{
"name": "Platinum Badge",
"type": "platinum"
},
{
"name": "Innovation Badge",
"type": "innovation"
}
],
"contributors": [
{
"id": 79069,
"company": "WIRED",
"credential_types": [
"innovation"
],
"entity_id": 2240117,
"name": "Kate Knibbs",
"speaker_types": [],
"title": "Senior Writer",
"image": {
"alt_text": "Kate Knibbs",
"credit": "",
"url": "https://images.sxsw.com/olqMHN51yk95FwC5fJay0hJRrsk=/485x202:1745x1462/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/aaf78d16-83c0-45fa-90ba-84662adc0441/pcid-1625928"
},
"speaker_type": "Speaker",
"details": null,
"links": {},
"type": "person"
},
{
"id": 78877,
"company": "Outro",
"credential_types": [
"innovation"
],
"entity_id": 2239847,
"name": "Dr. Mark Horowitz, MD",
"speaker_types": [],
"title": "Co-founder",
"image": {
"alt_text": "Dr. Mark Horowitz, MD",
"credit": null,
"url": "https://images.sxsw.com/c1rz1mhO9oq00ilmjW7z41Guwxs=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/1386dc3b-a96f-efcb-0bdf-1bc06364143c/pcid-1624269"
},
"speaker_type": "Speaker",
"details": "Dr Mark Horowitz is a Clinical Research Fellow in Psychiatry in the National Health Service (NHS) in London, Visiting Lecturer in Psychopharmacology at King’s College London, an Honorary Clinical Research Fellow at University College London and a trainee psychiatrist. He has a PhD from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London in the neurobiology of depression and antidepressant action. He is the lead author of the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines, the first authoritative clinical handbook on how to safely stop antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs.",
"links": {},
"type": "person"
}
],
"venue": {
"accessible": false,
"age_policy": null,
"floor": "3",
"id": "V0453",
"indoor_outdoor": "INDOOR",
"name": "Salon C",
"parent_id": "V0403",
"parent_venue_name": "JW Marriott",
"venue_entry_info": null,
"formats": null,
"location": {
"address": "110 E 2nd St.",
"lat_lon": [
30.2645713,
-97.743198
],
"city": "Austin",
"postal_code": "78701",
"state": "TX",
"name": "JW Marriott"
},
"root": {
"accessible": null,
"age_policy": null,
"floor": null,
"id": "V0403",
"indoor_outdoor": null,
"name": "JW Marriott",
"parent_id": null,
"parent_venue_name": null,
"venue_entry_info": null,
"formats": null
},
"events": "[omitted 5 venue events]"
},
"description": "Are antidepressants really that hard to stop? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Scientists can’t seem to agree on a definitive answer. And yet, Dr. Mark Horowitz has some 20,000 emails in his inbox from Americans who feel trapped on their meds. With insights from his clinical research at University College London, and his own harrowing journey tapering off antidepressants, Dr. Horowitz, the world leading expert in the science of safely stopping psychiatric meds, exposes the uncomfortable truths behind one of today’s most controversial topics in mental health.",
"experience_level": "Beginner",
"accessibility": [
"Closed captioned"
],
"accessible_venue": false,
"add_bcl_url": false,
"add_slido": false,
"age_policy": null,
"american_sign_language": false,
"apple_url": null,
"audio_description": false,
"caption_url": null,
"closed_captioned": true,
"cpe_credit": false,
"has_subtitles": false,
"hash_tags": [],
"high_sensory_experience": false,
"live": false,
"long_description": "Are antidepressants really that hard to stop? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Scientists can’t seem to agree on a definitive answer. And yet, Dr. Mark Horowitz has some 20,000 emails in his inbox from Americans who feel trapped on their meds. With insights from his clinical research at University College London, and his own harrowing journey tapering off antidepressants, Dr. Horowitz, the world leading expert in the science of safely stopping psychiatric meds, exposes the uncomfortable truths behind one of today’s most controversial topics in mental health.",
"meeting_url": null,
"meeting_url_live": false,
"mentorly_url": null,
"mobile_audio_url": null,
"open_captioned": false,
"playlist_tag": null,
"rebroadcast": false,
"recommended_ids": [],
"search_conversions": null,
"short_program": false,
"slido_url": null,
"sort": "MEDICATED FOR LIFE? ANTIDEPRESSANTS & CONFLICTING SCIENCE",
"source": "Official",
"squad_up_url": null,
"stream_embed": null,
"stream_id": null,
"stream_url": null,
"strobe_warning": false,
"subdiscipline": null,
"summit": null,
"summit_display_name": null,
"tags": [
{
"id": 951,
"name": "Science",
"created_at": "2016-11-04T11:44:17.754-05:00",
"updated_at": "2024-01-25T14:52:52.593-06:00",
"sort": "SCIENCE",
"alpha": "S"
}
],
"talent_attending": null,
"title_only": false,
"track_display_name": "Health track sponsored by Eli Lilly",
"trailer_id": null,
"trailer_url": null,
"video_on_demand": null,
"vimeo_id": null,
"vod": false,
"xr_project_type": null,
"youtube_id": null,
"related_sales_client": null
}