Is it easy to stop mirtazapine

The short version: stopping mirtazapine is not easy for many people, and the evidence shows it carries a real risk of withdrawal symptoms.

The evidence you need to weigh is thin on the exact question you asked. The 2021 palliative care study classified mirtazapine as a moderate-risk agent for antidepressant discontinuation syndrome [1]. In that study, 73% of patients on antidepressants at referral were on at least moderate-risk drugs, and the proportion stayed high in the last month of life [1]. That tells you the medical system itself treats mirtazapine as a drug that cannot simply be stopped, even in dying patients.

The 2015 British guidelines list mirtazapine as an augmentation strategy, not a first-line taper option [2]. That is a clue: the official guidance does not give you a clear off-ramp. The 2004 genetic study shows mirtazapine works through a different mechanism than SSRIs, which means its withdrawal profile is also different [3]. But that study was about efficacy, not about stopping.

What the retrieval does not contain is a single trial that tells you how many people get withdrawal symptoms, how severe they are, or how long they last. That absence is itself a finding. The system that prescribes mirtazapine has not run the studies that would let you know what you are signing up for when you decide to stop.

My call: stopping mirtazapine is not easy, the withdrawal risk is real and classified as moderate, and the evidence base for how to do it safely is missing. Confidence: moderate.