Originally Posted by
Gottalife 
A few months back I worked with an alcoholic who got hooked on Benzos. Alcohol withdrawal is realtively short, a few days. Benzos can take a long time, months to ween off, and it is incedibly tough going. It just horrifies me what she had to go through and in the end she didn't make it.
A competent doctor will use a short acting benzo and put the patient on a strict taper. Like you said alcohol withdrawal is short in duration, and so the benzo taper should be as well. The benzo taper is supposed to be used primarily to prevent seizures (with the side benefit of reducing anxiety), so when the risk of seizures has passed the benzos should be stopped. Unfortunately there are too many doctors that don't adhere to that strategy IMO and over-prescribe benzos to the detriment of their patients.