I was able to get off of benzos with the help of a Psychiatrist. I had been prescribed Klonopin / Ativan for over a decade. I went to this Psychiatrist as part of my intensive outpatient treatment program when I decided to get sober. We waited until I had gotten completely through alcohol withdrawals (he actually bumped up the dose for the first week or so) and then we (very) slowly started the weaning process. It took close to 6 months and he had me on a very tight leash. I saw him every 4 weeks and he gave me exactly enough doses to last until the next time I saw him.
Of the most common benzodiazepines (xanax, ativan, klonopin, valium) Xanax and Ativan are by far the most addictive because of the short half-life of the drug. The quicker it is metabolized and leaves your body the more addictive it is. Here is the half-life of the 4 most commonly prescribed benzos:
Xanax: ~11 hours
Ativan: ~12 hours
Klonopin: ~35 hours
Valium: ~50 hours
For this reason my p-doc used Valium to wean me off of the Ativan I was currently taking. The combination of slowly reducing the dosage and using a benzo that left my system slowly reduced the withdrawal symptoms versus using a more powerful and short acting benzo like Xanax or Ativan.
This post may seem like medical advice but actually it is the opposite. The information above is to illustrate that weaning off of a benzodiazepine is more complicated than just cutting down on your dosage. I would definitely recommend having a physician's help with the weaning process, preferably one who has experience with the process like a p-doc.