For example, it is common for patients using SSRI anti-depressant therapies to take a drug holiday to reduce or avoid side effects associated with sexual dysfunction.
The holiday is also a tool to assess a drug's benefits against unwanted side effects, assuming that both will dissipate after an extended vacation.
[citation needed] One-day drug holidays in the lithium treatment of bipolar disorder, known as "lithium-free days", have been in use since the pioneering work of Noack and Trautner in 1951.
[7] Drug holidays from antipsychotic medication such as chlorpromazine have been used since the early 1980s to alleviate adverse reactions associated with long-term treatment.
[8][9] According to Ann Mortimer, it is acknowledged that established guidelines require long-term treatment in established schizophrenia, because the vast majority of evidence from discontinuation, "drug holiday", and ultra-low-dose studies conducted over many years points to significantly higher relapse rates when compared to maintenance treatment.