When a doctor prescribes a medicine, they believe it will be more helpful than harmful to the person taking it. However, some anxiety medications operate similarly to other addictive drugs like opiates, and long-term use can lead to painful withdrawal.
According to the National Institute on Druga Abuse (NIDA), physical dependence on benzodiazepines can develop in just a few weeks during use, even when taken exactly as prescribed. The FDA has issued boxed warnings on all benzodiazepines to highlight the risks of misuse, addiction, and life-threatening withdrawal. A person may not feel like an “addict,” especially when they’re taking something to treat a mental health condition, but they can feel stuck with a medication because weaning off it is too uncomfortable to endure.
Are All Anxiety Medications Addictive?
Some people struggle to successfully medicate their anxiety. They try multiple drugs, like SSRIs or SNRIs, without landing on one formulation that truly eases their symptoms. Non-addictive medications like buspirone may help, but if none can ease the anxiety, doctors may turn to the heavy-hitters, known as benzodiazepines or benzos. Drugs like Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, Valium, and Rohypnol are commonly prescribed benzos and are used for severe anxiety and panic attacks.
With careful supervision, a patient can thrive on one of these medications and keep their anxiety at bay, even stop panic attacks in their tracks with these fast-acting drugs. They can live a productive, normal life without interruption from anxiety when a benzo is taken as prescribed.
But benzodiazepines can become physically addictive with prolonged use. If a patient doesn’t take their medication as prescribed, or if their tolerance builds, there can be a temptation to take more of the drug until they get the feeling they crave. Here at Beachside Rehab, we often treat patients who were initially prescribes anxiety medications for legitimate reasons, but found themselves unintentionally and uncontrollably addicted. Addiction to anxiety medication often begins with tolerance, escalated doses, and reliance on the medication to function.
Potential Side Effects of Anxiety Medication
Anxiety meds are designed to depress the nervous system, which can help to calm panic symptoms such as:
- Racing heart, dizziness, or chest pains
- Sweating, tingling, or numbness
- Difficulty breathing and trembling
Mmany people who suffer from anxiety, however, have depression, and benzodiazepines can sometimes make depression worse. The emotional numbness these medications produce keep anxiety and panic at bay, but they also hide the feelings and emotions a person is having–the source of their anxiety to begin with.
Why Quitting Anxiety Meds Cold Turkey Is Dangerous
Physical tolerance to a drug like Xanax or Klonopin can happen quickly, and users typically need more of the drug after a few months to achieve the same effects they got from a smaller dose at the start. Stopping benzodiazepines abruptly is not safe. SAMHSA warns that withdrawal from long-term benzo usage can be severe and even life-threatening.
Possible withdrawal symptoms include:
- Increased anxiety and depression
- Confusion, hallucinations, and seizures
- Restlessness, insomnia, sweating, pounding heart, shaking, and more.
The best practices for benzodiazepine withdrawal treatment include medically supervised tapering over a period of weeks or even months—never cold turkey. Tapering should be combined with therapies like CBT or holistic approaches, or non-addictive alternatives like SSRIs, SNRIs, hydroxyzine, or buspirone as a part of a long-term plan for recovery and healing.
Is Your Loved One Addicted to an Anxiety Medication?
Because long-term use of anxiety medications changes the brain’s structure, this leads to increased tolerance and, ultimately, addiction. Some signs of addiction to an anxiety med include the following:
- Taking more than the amount prescribed
- Seeking out multiple prescriptions or obtaining medications illegally
- Suffering withdrawal symptoms when missing a dose
- Feeling “off” until the medication is taken
- Inability to cutback
- Job, life, and activities are negatively affected
Can Withdrawal Happen at Home, or Do You Need Holistic Rehab?
It is dangerous to try to detox from benzodiazepines on your own without medical supervision. You may want to attempt to detox at home, you may even try to, but the withdrawal from such strong drugs will be severe and uncomfortable, and can often lead to relapse. Monitored detox in holistic therapy is a healthy, safe way to rid these medications from your system, followed by therapy and recovery techniques.
Holistic rehab, like that offered at Beachside Rehab, provides:
- Safe, medically monitored detox
- Holistic therapies such as yoga, meditation, art and music therapy, or equine therapy
- Dual diagnosis rehab for anxiety and addiction treatment together
- Long-term recovery tools and coping skills
Dual Diagnosis: Treating Anxiety and Addiction Together
If you are given a dual diagnosis, which is likely since many suffer from addiction to a medication needed because of a mental health condition, the goal is to treat both the addiction and anxiety in treatment. The anxiety is the underlying cause of the addiction, and getting it under control will help maintain sobriety. Benzos may have numbed the symptoms, but the real path to recovery is learning how to manage your anxiety with dependency.
Dual diagnosis treatment usually includes:
- Individual and group therapy
- Medication management
- Holistic practices for emotional regulation
- Relapse prevention
- Coping strategies and long-term treatment plans
Beachside’s luxury treatment facility in West Palm Beach, Florida, is customized for immediate care and to ensure long-lasting recovery. We provide safe, medically- assisted and supervised detox in a serene, non-institutional setting and offer holistic therapies and approaches to promote wellness and healing. Holistic rehab is especially ideal for people who suffer from a dual diagnosis and can benefit from targeted treatment for their addiction and mental health, including individual and group therapy, yoga, meditation, equine therapy, art therapy, and more.