I haven't yet consulted with a psychiatrist because I am still living at home and my mom is pretty adamant about me remaining on medication, especially since I am living at home and a withdrawal could affect the whole family. But I also do not want to let her fears dictate my decisions as I have done for the entirety of my life.
What's your tapering schedule, and why aren't you doing this in concert with your psychiatrist? At any rate, the taper should be as slow as you need to go -- you've been on this a long time, and of course, as you know now, should never have been put on such a drug at such a young age. So in essence your brain has developed along with this drug, and it might be very hard for it to operate without the help of such a drug, if not this exact one. Only time will tell that, and that can also happen to people who started as adults -- it's one of the lesser publicized downsides to taking these meds. That's why the slow taper -- to give your brain the time it needs to adapt back to working naturally, which means dormant serotonin receptors have to awaken and function. You might pick up a book called The Anti-Depressant Solution, which discusses how to come off these drugs.