“I Knew in My Soul It Was the Mood Stabilizer That Messed It Up!”: A Qualitative Study of Lived Experiences of Psychotropic Medication Tapering and Spirituality

Abstract

Psychotropic medication is widely used in the treatment of severe mental illness, yet its impact on spirituality—understood as relating to the transcendent—remains underexplored. This qualitative study examines how individuals who have reduced or discontinued medication experience and navigate spirituality. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven former inpatients, and data were analyzed thematically within an existential–phenomenological framework. Participants described diverse spiritual and extraordinary experiences intertwined with symptoms and medication use. They navigated these by managing medication as a double-edged sword that both protected and numbed spirituality; by attempting, with varying degrees of success, to make sense of their experiences within “illness” or “spirituality” frameworks; and by seeking relational support. The findings suggest that tapering psychotropic medication may be not only a pharmaceutical process but also an existential and spiritual one. Mental health services may enhance recovery by acknowledging spirituality, engaging with patients’ meaning-making around extraordinary experiences, and recognizing the complex role of medication while making room for ambiguity, uncertainty, and mystery as sources of existential hope.