I think you need to be ultra cautious. If you read my post (very recently) on a thread called "Just urgh" you will see what happened to me. Also I don't think many GPs know much about coming off meds and it tends to be "think of a number" - if you read my post you will see that I came off meds after 14 years very slowly and under the supervision of a clinical psychologist. I was on 100mg a day of imipramine and reduced 10mg per month and took 10 months to come off them. I had twice tried to come off them following the GPs advice, and suffered withdrawal symptoms (which the GPs told me was a return of the depression, as orangeflutie says withdrawal symptoms can mimic depression. Each time I had withdrawal symptoms (which I thought was a return of the depression with exactly the same symptoms) I went back to the GP and they said it as a return of the depression and put me back on the full dose. The psychologist helped me to understand that I was experiencing withdrawal symptoms, not a return of the depression. I have to say though that the fact that the GPs didn't know this left me with little trust in GP's knowledge of mental illness.
However with 4 months of coming off the meds (and 14 years on them feeling fine) and a few stressful things happened I was back with another major depression (and 3 months on a psych ward) needless to say I am on ADs for life now.
I am not of course saying this will happen to you or anyone else, but I think you need to take care with the advice given to reduce by the GP - it needs to be very very slow reduction and no taking a tablet every other day as one GP had suggested I did. Another GP told me to reduce 10mg a week and within a few months I was having withdrawal symptoms, as the reduction was too quick. The psychologist was horrified and I have to say she was the only one who gave me proper advice about coming off them, even if it did result in another major episode of depression.
The psychologist said that most GPs wanted to stick to some kind of schedule of reduction and this is entirey wrong. She said I needed to be in control of the reduction, as only I would know how I was feeling, following the reduction, (which made perfect sense to me) and if I was ok after a reduction I could go ahead and make another 10mg reduction the following month. If however there was something stressful going on in my life and I was anxious about another reduction, I should not reduce, but wait another month if necessary and so on.........she said the only thing she would stop me doing was to come off them too quickly. Her method worked and I did manage to reduce 10mg per month and had teeny weeny withdrawal symptoms but nothing to worry me and of course I could link it with my slight reduction.
I was on imipramine and the reduction worked for me, but I don't know if it works the same way with SSRIs.