Introduction to Benzodiazepines

  Blog 6: Benzo addiction treatment, therapy, and alternative approaches   Karissa Lemire   Baker College   “Research, research, read all about it!”   Today’s treatment of prescription medication addictions such as benzodiazepines is modeled after careful research whose purpose is to serve professionals in their quest to help people. Exploring this research brought me to the 2013 study in which professionals compare addicted benzodiazepine takers to non-addicted takers of the substance. While this research is a bit older it holds it’s value in demonstrating the importance of understanding who may be susceptible to benzo abuse when treating their conditions with this type of medication.   According to researchers, benzo addiction is connected to many factors that are not fully considered when prescribing these medications. These factors include no determined time of treatment, lack of alternative methods, patient not fully educated on the...

  The topic of this week’s blog is comorbidity. Comorbidity is a term used to describe the occurrence of interacting conditions (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2020). When discussing comorbidity and benzodiazepine usage it is common to see both mental illness and substance abuse issues occurring within one person but this is because benzodiazepine is a class of medications used to treat many mental disorders alone or with complimenting medications. Mental conditions such as anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and post-traumatic stress disorder may be treated using benzodiazepines such as Klonopin, Ativan, and Xanax. These drugs are often abused due to their euphoric, relaxing effects and those with prescriptions to these medications are especially at risk for abuse. Risk factors of both substance abuse and mental illnesses are often similar such as genetic factors, environmental factors such as trauma, or interfamilial influences such as being subject to abuse or neglect a...