Benzodiazepines

From WND: Although a disturbing number of perpetrators of recent mass shootings and murders have been on psychiatric medication prior to committing their crimes, the media has...

From The Lown Institute: The recent deaths of several beloved musicians, actors, and other public figures have brought to light the dangers of taking multiple, potentially fatal drugs. "In...

From It's Not Just an Opioid Crisis: The media are saturated with coverage of the familial and community devastation that has resulted from the opioid...

From The Times: In an age in which benzodiazepine dependence is increasingly becoming a global problem, online forums serve as a lifeline for numerous benzodiazepine...

Christine Cobb speaks to the Lancaster Guardian about how she became addicted to prescription drugs and her horrific experience with benzodiazepine and SSRI withdrawal. "'...the doctor...

Long-term benzodiazepine use shown to effect cognitive function during current use and for years after drug discontinuation.

From The Guardian: The British government has ordered an investigation into the growing problem of addiction to prescription drugs such as opioids, benzodiazepines, and antidepressants. Article...

The minute you sit down in the chair in a mental health professional's office, you’re no longer seen as a person. The mental health system is incapable of seeing past the solid wall of your current label. Their only cure is drugs. "First Do No Harm" are powerful words. It’s unfortunate they don’t apply to psychiatry.

Researchers Identify risk factors for long-term benzodiazepine use to prevent harmful effects.

In this five-part series for the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, Nicole L. critiques a recent article by Dr. Greg Smith that was highly laudatory of benzodiazepines. Click...

From The Lown Institute: Opioids aren't the only drug being dangerously overprescribed. The overprescription of benzodiazepines, a psychoactive drug with potentially excruciating side effects and...

H. 3594 would require pharmacists to distribute pamphlets containing information on benzodiazepine misuse and abuse, risk of dependency and addiction, handling and addiction treatment resources. This would be a major legislative response to the prescribing patterns for these drugs today.

From The Washington Post: A recent study found that benzodiazepines are associated with a greater chance of early death for those with Alzheimer's. "Researchers analyzed data on...

In this piece for The New York Times, Benoit Denizet-Lewis explores the social, cultural, and economic factors that have contributed to the significant rise in...

From The Right Care Alliance: Documentary filmmaker and benzodiazepine survivor Holly Hardman is currently working on a film called As Prescribed, which will document the stories...

From the New York Post: Mass murderer Stephen Paddock was reportedly prescribed anti-anxiety medication this past summer. The gunman purchased 50 10-milligram tablets of Valium...

In this video for Benzo Brains, Jocelyn Pedersen explains why addiction is harmful to benzodiazepine survivors and differentiates benzodiazepine associated disability (BAD) from benzodiazepine addiction.

After long-term use, most people are going to have serious symptoms when stopping SSRIs. Many people are going to have transient, mild to moderate difficulty and some are going to end up falling down the akathisia rabbit hole. That is a long, difficult drop.

Members of the group Benzodiazepine Recovery have created a video about the often debilitating symptoms of benzodiazepine withdrawal. Video →­

While any effort to generate awareness and potentially curb the benzodiazepine epidemic is commendable, we have to ask ourselves, is Xanax just the scapegoat in this situation? Will legislative action and media attention for only one benzodiazepine out of so many make any difference?

Members of the group Benzodiazepine Recovery have created a video to raise awareness for benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. It is estimated that 30 percent of people...

The researchers found that, of those who were initially prescribed both antidepressants and benzodiazepines, approximately 12% went on to engage in long-term benzodiazepine use.

I am participating in World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day today, and you should too, because you know somebody right now who is taking a benzodiazepine and that person might just be dealing with chronic health problems, unaware that they are result of taking the medication as prescribed.

From New Scientist: Some organizations are helping people hack their dosing regimens so they can taper off psychiatric drugs without severe withdrawal effects. One Dutch organization...

I am still trying to reconcile what these chemicals are capable of, how the urge can morph into an action, how we maybe just don’t understand suicide all that well. For me, the suffering was so intense it was too painful to stay alive. I understand how my friends felt in their last moments.