[Alera]

Originally Posted by RUNVS

I m going to give you some real good info links. Please take the time to read them.



http://www.breggin.com/benzodiazepine.pdf

This is the first link I checked out, and it is full of medical misinformation.

"All standard antianxiety agents also have sedative effects and in my clinical experience the antianxiety effect does not occur in the absense of these effects . "

It must be a small practice because common medical literature (See L Stein and Francis for refs) state the opposite. That once the sedative side effects wear off, the antianxiety medication still works.

The author of your link also states that many users of benzos will self-medicate. That is only somewhat correct. Some with anxiety self-medicate, as do those with bi-poler disorder, depression, etc. This has very little to do with the medication used, but has a lot to do with the fact they want the mental illness to go away. IN fact, people who are self-medicating are LESS likely to abuse other drugs once they get on the Benzos.

Here is a paper describing how those with anxiety are likely to abuse alcohol. As you will read, the period of time the disorder exists is 10+ years prior to abuse. This goes against what your link states.

From NIH published paper: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...26/ai_95148608

Furthermore, among people with alcohol dependence, an estimated 36.9 percent met the criteria for an anxiety disorder during the previous year. Of these, 11.6 percent had GAD, 3.9 percent had panic disorder, and 7.7 percent had PTSD. The chances of having comorbid anxiety disorders were significantly increased among those diagnosed as alcohol-dependent, with the exception of panic disorder.

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The NCS found that the median age of onset for comorbid psychiatric disorders preceded the median age of onset for all addictive disorders by 10 years (11 years old compared with 21 years old). In addition, the majority of respondents who had both a psychiatric disorder and an addictive disorder reported that they had begun to suffer from at least one psychiatric disorder before the addictive disorder started. The one exception to this order of onset was that 72 percent of alcohol-abusing males reported that their alcohol use disorder preceded the onset of a mood disorder.

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