JOURNAL ARTICLE
PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

"Should Patients With Substance Use Disorders Be Prescribed Benzodiazepines?" No.

Patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) should not use benzodiazepines to treat anxiety, insomnia, or anything else, for the same reasons that they should not drink any alcohol or use other drugs, regardless of their primary drug used. Once the addiction "switch" is thrown on, it never again goes off. This question has additional relevance today because in 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration put black box warnings on all benzodiazepines and opioid analgesics about the serious risks associated with their concomitant use. Anxiety is not a benzodiazepine-deficiency disease. It is possible to treat anxiety and insomnia without medicines of any kind, and it is possible to use medicines other than benzodiazepines for these common and serious mental disorders. Although many patients with SUDs are eager to use benzodiazepines, using alternatives is often effective and it does not put the patient's recovery in jeopardy. The standard I propose here is based on the experience of many people with SUDs who have tried and failed to use benzodiazepines for anxiety.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app