SSRI withdrawal vs Benzo withdrawal? Is it worth it?

Hi everyone!

I am almost 2 years benzo free after a very short stint taking them (6 weeks) and a longer withdrawal process (about 9 months to feel better).

I am now beginning to think (have for years, really) about getting off my SSRI (Lexapro, 20mg, been on it for almost 7 years) and am nervous.

I know everyone's body is very different, but any advice/stories/suggestions concerning the following questions would be amazing:

1. Does anyone know if there is a correlation between how your brain responds to coming off a benzo and coming off an SSRI? If I had a 9 month withdrawal from a 6 week period of taking benzos, does that mean I will have an equally long withdrawal from SSRIs?

2. Which is worse, in your opinion? Is the SSRI withdrawal comparable to the intensity of the 9 months I experienced?

3. Do SSRIs have the same impacts on the brain as benzos? Is it "safer" to take them?

4. I've heard SSRIs don't work if you take them a second time - so I am thinking it might not be a good idea to go off, in case the withdrawal is terrible and then going back on isn't an option.

Any answers to these questions, or general advice that springs to mind would be greatly appreciated!!!

Best and warmest,

Curiouz

Hi

If you think you are done with benzo withrawal then you can start tapering your SSRI they usually mess with your serotonin channel so try to come off of them slowly to provent withrawal reaction like depression and anxiety, and I don’t think SSRI causes the withrawal as severe as benzo because benzo mess with GABBA the basic material that brain work with to produce other chemicals but they only mess with serotonin so I think the withrawal would be mostly depression anxiety OCD things like that but nothing like benzo I think benzo is the worst