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Former patient tells subcommittee long psychiatric drug regimens can cause lasting harm; urges federal tapering guidance
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Summary
Laura Delano, founder of the Intercompass Initiative, described 14 years of psychiatric treatment beginning in adolescence, long-term harms she attributes to polypharmacy, and argued the U.S. lacks evidence-based tapering protocols — a gap she urged the committee to address.
Laura Delano told the subcommittee she entered the mental‑health system at 13 and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and placed on psychiatric medication. Over years her regimen expanded and, she testified, produced physical health problems, weight gain and suicidal ideation before she ultimately stopped taking medications.
"I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and told I would require meds for the rest of my life," Delano said, describing repeated diagnoses and years on multiple drugs before she ceased medication 16 years ago. She said withdrawal symptoms were repeatedly mistaken for relapse and that U.S. clinicians and regulators had no formal tapering guidance to offer patients.
Delano said the Intercompass Initiative has guided nearly 1,000,000 visitors to its resources and has worked with thousands seeking to taper or stop psychiatric medications. She urged the committee to direct federal agencies to study long‑term physiological effects of psychiatric drugs and to adopt evidence‑based tapering protocols akin to guidance available in the U.K. and Australia.
Members and witnesses acknowledged the seriousness of Delano’s account and the limited surveillance around long‑term drug discontinuation. No agency presented contrary evidence in the hearing; Delano’s claims were presented as lived experience and advocacy rather than adjudicated facts.
