Posted by Fred23 on January 12, 2005, at 17:51:50
A while ago there was a thread about how to show a doctor that long-term benzo usage is appropriate in come situations.
There is a paper on the ADAA (Anxiety Disorders Association of America) titled "Improving the Diagnosis & Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Dialogue Between Mental Health Professionals and Primary Care Physicians" (c) 2004, at http://www.adaa.org/images/conference/2005/Final%20ADAA%20GAD%20Paper.pdf, that on page 7 has:
"Benzodiazepines are often used for short-term, initial treatment of GAD and have sometimes been
used for longer-term maintenance of GAD. The mechanism of anxiolytic action of the benzodiazepines
is to increase the affinity of GABAA receptors for GABA (-aminobutyric acid), a major
inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. While benzodiazepines have a rapid onset of action and
low cost, they also carry a risk of dependency. Several additional factors limit the utility of benzodiazepines,
including adverse events such as sedation, fatigue, impaired psychomotor performance,
decreased learning ability, synergistic effects with alcohol, and the potential for abuse. With maintenance
therapy, however, some of these negative effects may become transient or disappear."
poster:Fred23
thread:441285
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050108/msgs/441285.html