Symptom‑count Masks Withdrawal Severity

Clinical meta‑analyses that rely on unweighted symptom counts (like the DESS) can understate how disabling antidepressant withdrawal is for a subset of patients because they count new symptoms without grading severity or impairment. That measurement choice can make a modest average effect (one extra symptom) look clinically trivial even when a minority experience severe, prolonged withdrawal. — If common evidence metrics systematically obscure severe outcomes, policy, prescribing guidance, and public debate will be misinformed and patients may be left without appropriate supports.