Can taking benzos help you long term? As in you learn to live without the anxiety and it doesn't come back?

Question

Thanks for any input.

Answer 1

No. Prozac maybe, but Benzos have a law of diminishing returns, like booze.  To get the same effect you need more long term, and coming off them will make symptoms reappear.  They should be used while you are coming to terms with and / or learning to cope with a short term situation.  They are probably very good for this, and could be used while learning to overcome some irrational phobia.  They are not really intended for long term treatment.

--------

Thanks Az R, that is very informative.

Answer 2

Benzodiazepines can definitely help you with anxiety.  They help a lot of people... in the short term.  However... this is a big HOWEVER... they are extremely addictive and, in my opinion, should not be used as a long term cure for anxiety!

Benzos are, besides alcohol, the most dangerous drug to detox from.  If you take them for an extended period of time you CANNOT simply stop taking them.  Also, the process of weening ones self off of them is extremely uncomfortable, causes severe anxiety, and takes an fairly long period of time, several weeks to months.  

Simply stopping the drug can cause seizures, psychosis, and death... they are no joke.  So think twice before considering them as a long term treatment for anxiety.

Answer 3

Absolutely. There's actually a lot of very good data about long term benzo use that has more or less been overrun in the US due to a moral panic in the 70s. I had a professor as an undergrad from Germany who did a lot of research on this, admittedly focusing more on chronic anxiety disorders that are essentially lifelong. His data said there's about 5 million Americans who take one or another benzodiazepine who have done so for longer than ten years. Non-drug addicted, baby eating, satelite pirating people, about twice as many women as men, with essentially no complications.

As for what you're describing, that's not quite how it works. Benzos are useful as a stopgap, and you can learn certain skills to reduce anxiety and panic from therapy - especially if you have a milder anxiety disorder. Then you can get off the benzos slowly and generally be alright.

I'd also like to point out that Benzos utilize a wide variety of GABA-A receptors in the brain. The sedative or sleepiness effect of benzos uses a specific receptor which contains a regulatory element and is subject to diminished returns - in short you become tolerate to the sedative effect  the longer you take it.

The anxiolytic effect of benzos is mediated  by another receptor subtype which does not contain a regulatory element. This is the same receptor which is responsible for the anti-seizure properties of the drug and is not subject to any diminishing returns. In short, it works as well five years later as it did the first year. These two systems are in seperate areas of the brain and have very different regulatory elements. It IS worth noting that many patients associated the numbed out drowsy sedative effect with the anxiolysis, and when this disappears they assume the drug has stopped working and start mucking with things. The clinical data indicates that this is clearly not the case due to the safety and stability of long term administration. (Basically people who take it for ten years are still using the same dose, assuming they're not drug addicts.)