How often venlafaxine withdrawal happens has never been pinned down
The big reviews give one rate for all antidepressants. The one head-to-head number, 43.5% moderate-or-worse withdrawal at eight weeks against 34.3% on sertraline, was an unplanned analysis of a trial.
What the study found
Venlafaxine's withdrawal rate hides in pooled figures and one trial
The big reviews rate antidepressants as a class and name venlafaxine only in rankings. The one direct number: at eight weeks, 43.5% on venlafaxine had moderate-or-worse withdrawal against 34.3% on sertraline, in an unplanned analysis of 163 people; the planned one found none.
The caveat · Only eight weeks of use measured
The percentages were extracted by a later review from the trial's tables; the trial's own summary gives only the direction. Withdrawal was a side outcome of a trial built to compare how well the drugs worked, after eight weeks of use, so it says nothing about longer use. A review of 61 reports found withdrawal most often with venlafaxine but could give no pooled figure.
What we don't know
The percentages were extracted by a later review from the trial's tables; the trial's own summary gives only the direction. Withdrawal was a side outcome of a trial built to compare how well the drugs worked, after eight weeks of use, so it says nothing about longer use. A review of 61 reports found withdrawal most often with venlafaxine but could give no pooled figure.