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The Damnation of Benzodiazepines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

F. Kräupl Taylor
F. Kräupl Taylor*
Affiliation:
The Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals, London
*
∗22 Redington Road, London NW3 7RG
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Abstract

It is argued that there are two kinds of benzodiazepine dependence: a therapeutic and a morbid kind. The therapeutic dependence is acceptable in that it mitigates the clinical manifestations in patients with long-standing and fluctuating anxious–depressive symptoms. The morbid dependence is an unfortunate complication which can arouse therapeutic concern because it ties patients to an excessive dosage, unless the penalty of a sometimes grim abstinence syndrome is paid on drug reduction. The present, often strident and threatening, damnation of benzodiazepines oversteps the mark and causes avoidable misery to patients whose well-being has become largely and therapeutically dependent on the drug.

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The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 154 , Issue 5 , May 1989 , pp. 697 - 704
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

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