World Psychiatry, Jun./15: "Need for a realistic appraisal of benzodiazepines"

[[La...]]

This is the kind of article that will undoubtedly anger most people who have been prescribed benzodiazepines for long periods of time and who have had either bad side effects or bad withdrawals. It's written by a group of doctors who are clearly in favour of the use of benzodiazepines and who see them as relatively harmless and as the best option for anxiety and insomnia.

 

I'll post it here, knowing full well that there is much to argue about in its contents. It's a good example of the type of mentality that led to most BenzoBuddies' bad experiences with these medications. It's true that there are very few pharmacological options for doctors who want to prescribe a pill for patients with anxiety or insomnia. But that's the problem. For many of us, a pill isn't the best solution. There are many other options that don't involve the risks that benzos do -- including issues with balance, cognition, memory, worsening sleep and anxiety with long-term use, etc. But these doctors seem willing to ignore such issues for the purposes of their argument.

 

Patients should be given a range of options. As well, they should be given ALL of the pertinent information about the dangers of taking a medication BEFORE they take it.

 

Here's the article:

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4471984/

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[Ph...]]

This is the kind of article that will undoubtedly anger most people who have been prescribed benzodiazepines for long periods of time and who have had either bad side effects or bad withdrawals. It's written by a group of doctors who are clearly in favour of the use of benzodiazepines and who see them as relatively harmless and as the best option for anxiety and insomnia.

 

I'll post it here, knowing full well that there is much to argue about in its contents. It's a good example of the type of mentality that led to most BenzoBuddies' bad experiences with these medications. It's true that there are very few pharmacological options for doctors who want to prescribe a pill for patients with anxiety or insomnia. But that's the problem. For many of us, a pill isn't the best solution. There are many other options that don't involve the risks that benzos do -- including issues with balance, cognition, memory, worsening sleep and anxiety with long-term use, etc. But these doctors seem willing to ignore such issues for the purposes of their argument.

 

Patients should be given a range of options. As well, they should be given ALL of the pertinent information about the dangers of taking a medication BEFORE they take it.

 

Here's the article:

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4471984/

Among other nonsense, these three shills write the following:

 

"The potentials for dependency, toxicity and abuse of benzodiazepines have been emphasized in the literature, yet the percentage of abuse is really low in relation to the number of people using them."

 

The trick word in the above sentence is "abuse."  Of course "abuse" (as defined as scoring the drug off the street or taking more than the prescribed amount) is low.  But these three shills can't bring themselves to admit that the real abuse is occurring when patients are taking the prescribed amounts as instructed by their doctors.  The patients are not committing the abuse.  They are being abused.

 

And, of course as is the practice, the word "addiction" is not used.  It is never used.  "Dependency" is softer, implying some sort of reliance.

 

 

 

[[La...]]

Actually, "physical dependence" is the appropriate term. It refers to the adaptation that the central nervous system undergoes when you take certain kinds of medication. "Addiction" usually refers to drug-seeking behaviours, including taking more and more of a substance despite knowing that it's dangerous to do so, doctor-shopping to get more of the drug from different doctors, buying it on the street, etc.

 

Here's a useful excerpt from a website:

https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/addiction-vs-dependence/

 

 

"The difference between addiction and dependence can be difficult to understand. Some organizations have different definitions, use the words interchangeably or even abandon both terms altogether. (“Substance use disorder” is a preferred term in the scientific community.) Because of this lack of consistency, some ground rules can help differentiate between the two terms.

 

When people use the term “dependence,” they are usually referring to a physical dependence on a substance. Dependence is characterized by the symptoms of tolerance and withdrawal. While it is possible to have a physical dependence without being addicted, addiction is usually right around the corner.

 

Addiction is marked by a change in behavior caused by the biochemical changes in the brain after continued substance abuse. Substance use becomes the main priority of the addict, regardless of the harm they may cause to themselves or others. An addiction causes people to act irrationally when they don’t have the substance they are addicted to in their system."

 

Here's another good reference page:

 

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/frequently-asked-questions/there-difference-between-physical-dependence

 

 

There are definitely people who are addicted to benzos, and many articles focus solely on this group of people. But there are others who took the medication as prescribed, i.e. in the amounts prescribed, and as directed by their doctors. Some literature clearly delineates the differences in the two groups, while other literature does not.

[[Fl...]]

The trick word in the above sentence is "abuse."  Of course "abuse" (as defined as scoring the drug off the street or taking more than the prescribed amount) is low.  But these three shills can't bring themselves to admit that the real abuse is occurring when patients are taking the prescribed amounts as instructed by their doctors.  The patients are not committing the abuse.  They are being abused.

 

And, of course as is the practice, the word "addiction" is not used.  It is never used.  "Dependency" is softer, implying some sort of reliance.

 

As Lapis pointed out, dependence is the correct term and it has nothing to do with "softness". There is a tendency to believe that some doctors and other medical professionals use the word dependence to downplay the issue but regardless of why anyone uses it it is important that it is used when applicable because terminology dictates treatment, and as most of us here know it is improper to treat the kind of benzo issues most of us have as you would a drug addiction where the primary focus is keeping the patient off the drugs.

 

If we ever want any of this to change we have to get everyone on the same page as far as terminology goes, even if it seems like the proper terminology doesn't do the condition justice.