A good article recently appeared discussing anti-anxiety drugs. This is especially important as anxiety among individuals and couples is escalating for numerous reasons. This article discusses the masking effect of these drugs and the great importance of confronting your fears. Here are some excerpts:

• Many people don’t think twice about unwinding with a prescription benzodiazepine that can instantly bring physical calm, such as Klonopin, Ativan or Xanax. 
• The problem is that when you start taking a benzo, the brain reduces its natural output of GABA, which means that tapering off the medication can result in even worse symptoms of anxiety, along with extremely unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.
• When it comes to navigating anxiety, facing your fears rather than running away from them—or drugging them into submission—is essential to reclaiming your freedom. Having uncomfortable emotions and sensations is normal. Taking a sedative is about escaping those sensations and emotions, when what we actually need to learn is to accept them.
• Another critical issue with these drugs is that people begin to rely on them as a coping strategy at the expense of other, healthier emotion regulation techniques.

“The Danger of Relying on Anti-Anxiety Drugs. (January 27, 2024).