Outro officially launched in the US last month and is currently available in seven states, including California and New York. The startup is betting that many of the growing number of Americans taking antidepressants will eventually want help coming off them. Over 11 percent of US adults took medication for depression in 2023, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey, which found women were more than twice as likely as men to use the drugs.
About one in six people who stop taking antidepressants experience side effects like nausea and dizziness, especially if they do so abruptly, according to one study. Other research has found the prevalence of adverse withdrawal symptoms may be much higher, particularly among patients who have been on them for long periods.
For a monthly fee starting at $125, Outro pairs patients with a clinician who meets with them on a custom schedule—often weekly or monthly—and guides them through a tailored tapering program. Outro currently employs a small group of medical contractors, including nurse practitioners specializing in psychiatry and general nurse practitioners, who are supervised by psychiatrists. For now, patients pay for the service entirely out of pocket, but Goode says Outro plans to start accepting insurance soon.
Outro’s program is currently focused specifically on drugs often prescribed for depression, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Lexapro and Prozac, and serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) like Pristiq and Cymbalta. In the next year, Goode says, the company is planning to expand beyond antidepressants and begin offering tapering programs for stimulants and benzodiazepines, two classes of drug that are commonly prescribed in the US for issues like anxiety and ADHD and are known to cause intense withdrawal symptoms.
‘Uber for Getting Off Antidepressants’ is just… something else. what are these buzzwords
For those who are convinced that they have a million dollar app idea, it is a rite of passage to describe your project as 'Uber, but for X".
I imagine it’s indicating that it’ll start affordable and then skyrocket when it becomes a lynchpin of daily life after crowding out the alternatives?
Frankly I don’t see it being economically viable given shit’s only getting worse.
Stop making apps that don’t need to be apps. Escape technocracy. The internet is for buy shit, look at cat, and shitposting.
Where’s the “sells you the cure meme” when you need it? Whoever prescribed the meds is just as capable of helping you taper off them. Weird that they didn’t note how many people abruptly stop due to change in or loss of insurance.
Ah, sudden benzo withdrawals. I was prescribed Xanax after my second neck surgery and not told any warnings about what would happen without tapering. That was three days of absolute hell, so this seems a useful and needed service.
Not sure what it has to do with Uber, though.
This service is made obsolete by a pill cutter and access to Google.
