When Anxiety Medication Gets in the Way of Healing

"What if the medication you are taking to reduce your anxiety is interfering with your ability to manage anxiety? Benzodiazepines such as Xanax, Valium, Ativan, Klonopin, Librium, and Restoril reduce activity in the amygdala, which helps you feel better; they also interfere with the new learning required for self-managing emotional distress. If you are using benzodiazepines for ongoing anxiety management, you may want to learn about the risks of only temporarily feeling less distressed and develop new skills to manage anxiety."

"More than 30 million adults in the United States take benzodiazepines, more than any other psychiatric drug. This prescribing trend continues despite the widespread abuse of the medication, addiction, and significant risks associated with regular use. Benzodiazepines bind GABA receptors in the brain. GABA is a neurotransmitter that puts the brakes on brain activity. Benzodiazepines enhance GABA's ability to inhibit brain activity, specifically in the amygdala where the brain responds to life events that might be interpreted as a threat."

"Within two to four weeks of regularly taking a benzodiazepine, the brain becomes dependent on the medication to continue the same inhibitory response. Within this short time frame, problems begin to occur, such as needing more medication to produce the same calming effect. If a person decides to stop taking the medication after regular use, they will experience a rebound of anxiety that may be much worse than their original distress."

Benzodiazepines are the most prescribed psychiatric medications, with over 30 million U.S. adults taking them. These drugs bind GABA receptors and enhance inhibition in the brain, especially in the amygdala, reducing feelings of anxiety. That acute reduction in distress can mask the need to learn new coping skills because lowered amygdala activation impairs the new learning required for self-managing emotional distress. Regular use leads to tolerance within two to four weeks as the brain depends on the drug for inhibition. Stopping after dependence commonly produces rebound anxiety worse than baseline, driving a cycle of tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal.

Read at Psychology Today