Posted by hiba on August 25, 2002, at 23:59:52
In reply to Re: To...Addiction vs. Medical dependence » hiba, posted by Squiggles on August 25, 2002, at 8:28:07
Dear Squiggles,
It is amazing, that you, your pdoc and pharmacist still possess the data which APA lacks.
I saw the term "addiction" attributed to benzos only on the net. And I have enough reason to believe it is a creation of patient awkwardness.Physicians have no other options than to believe their patients.So at least some of them are forced to assume the term "addictive"(that is why you can see in some websites physicians use this term to dub benzos.) Did you see the posting of CLS above? It is an ideal example of patient awkwardness. Consuming a psychotropic drug for years and insisting on abrupt withdrawal is not much reasonable.Most of those horror stories of benzo withdrawal I read on the net are definitely the results of inappropriate use and abrupt withdrawal.
There is no doubt benzos cause physiological and psychological dependence. But "sometimes to understand the evil, you will have to go evil in details." So if you go in details without a biased outlook you can make yourself sure that this dependence is much, much better than leading a hellish life. When there are no safer alternatives to calm agitation, what do you suggest to do? Should we go back to the primitive way of handcuffing the patient and fixing him or her in chains?
Once again, I emphasize benzos are much safer than alcohol, tobacco and Antidepressants(newer and older ones). Because benzos don't cause any long term damage as alcohol and tobacco do. They don't have nasty side effects like sexual dysfunction attributable to antidepressants.Take care Squiggles,
HIBA
poster:hiba
thread:116708
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020821/msgs/117754.html