The Benzodiazepine Dependence Questionnaire (Psychological Self-Report)

[[...]]

For your reading pleasure ...

 

 

Manual for the Benzodiazepine Dependence Questionnaire

(BDEPQ)

 

Andrew Baillie

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre

University of New South Wales

February 26, 1996

 

https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/ndarc/resources/T.R%20033.pdf

 

Wish I could've copy/pasted more excerpts, it's all of 69 pages long, but here are just a few to whet the taste buds.  And be sure to take a peek at the actual questionnaire, starting on Page 23.  Super scientific 

 

• Description
  The Benzodiazepine Dependence Questionnaire (BDEPQ) is a 30 item self report questionnaire designed to measure dependence on benzodiazepine tranquillisers, sedatives, and hypnotics.  Items cover all aspects of the dependence syndrome with the exception of withdrawal symptoms  .  Each item is rated on a four point likert scale referring to experiences in the last month.
  See the full Rationale and Background, pg 1. (State-anxiety, depression and .... neuroticism  )

<br>

• There are three reasons for developing a broader measure of BZD dependence.  Firstly such a measure may be able to predict the success of attempts to cease BZD use.  Secondly a broader concept may assist in the understanding of the processes underlie BZD dependence.  Finally there is a pressing need for assessment devices to assist clinicians to withdraw those patients whose long term BZD use is harmful.
  

<br>

• History of benzodiazepine dependence
  The BZDs were initially thought to be free of the addictive properties of the barbiturate drugs they largely replaced However Hollister Motzenbecker  and Degan (1961) reported a withdrawal syndrome in people who had been given quantities of chlordiazepoxide much larger than recommended therapeutic doses.  Since the publication of that paper there has been considerable controversy over the putative harm and/or dependence producing properties of BZDs.  Over the next 20 years many other reports were published describing a withdrawal syndrome in people who had used BZDs within therapeutic doses (Ashton, 1984; Covi, Lipman, Pattison, Derogatis & Uhlenhuth, 1973).
   
  Evidence mounted that BZDs could produce withdrawal symptoms and the conclusion that they could produced dependence first appeared in the early 1970s.
  [...]
  It is now widely accepted that humans can become dependent on BZDs (World Health Organization Review Group, 1983; NH&MRC, 1991; Woods, Katz & Winger, 1987 for example) and evidence for this will not be presented.

<br>

• Symptoms of Withdrawal Chart, begins Page 46.

<br>

• And lastly, for fun, my favorite ...
   
  Acknowledgment
  The author acknowledge Maree Teesson, Richard Mattick, Peter Lovibond, Libby Barron, Margaret Eagers and Gail Merlin for their assistance. This manual has benefited from Rebecca McKetin's proffreading 
   
  

 

And here's a study on the validity of the above questionnaire. 

 

CONCLUSIONS:

 

Psychometric properties of the BDEPQ in Mexican psychiatric patients support its utility as a tool for the clinical work and research as it shows to be a useful instrument for the early recognition of BZD dependence in clinical populations. 

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21481543?dopt=Abstract

 

 

 

How an issue as serious as this has managed to remain under the radar for 55 years and counting is quite an accomplishment.  Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre.