Posted by Squiggles on August 24, 2002, at 16:56:11
In reply to Re: To...Addiction vs. Medical dependence » Squiggles, posted by alan on August 24, 2002, at 16:27:53
Right,
You remind me of some profs i had:
ok - here is something hopefully more pertinent:
"Benzodiazepines were classified as drugs of dependence, in the early to mid 1980s, essentially because of their tendency
to cause withdrawal reactions, even when taken at the usual recommended dosage, though especially after long-term use.
This point is underlined in the 1990 report of the American Psychiatric Association's Task Force report on Benzodiazepine
Dependency:"The presence of a predictable abstinence syndrome following abrupt discontinuance of benzodiazepines is
evidence of the development of physiological dependence" ..."Historically, long-term, high-dose, physiological dependence has been called addiction, a term that implies
recreational use. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that physiological adaptation develops and
discontinuance symptoms can appear after regular daily therapeutic dose administration ... in some cases after a
few days or weeks of administration. Since therapeutic prescribing is clearly not recreational abuse, the term
dependence is preferred to addiction, and the abstinence syndrome is called a discontinuance syndrome." (APA,
1990)Essentially the same point is made in the College's report, Benzodiazepines: risks, benefits or dependence (1997):
"Dependence on benzodiazepines is mainly manifest by withdrawal symptoms on cessation", and "Dependence is now
recognised as a significant risk in patients receiving treatment for longer than one month..."
taken fromhttp://www.socialaudit.org.uk/4400rcp.htm
I would like to know a little more about you since
you are drilling me so hard. :-)Squiggles
poster:Squiggles
thread:116708
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020821/msgs/117664.html