Posted by Viridis on February 16, 2004, at 21:47:34
In reply to Why pdocs prefer SSRI's to benzo's?, posted by rianny on February 16, 2004, at 14:33:23
From what I can tell, it's mostly marketing, combined with widespread, often indiscriminate prescription of benzos like Valium and Xanax until the 90s or so. Benzos gained a reputation for "addiction" (which actually seems to be quite rare, especially for those who really need them). But with all the prescriptions that were handed out, a few people got into trouble. And, most benzos went off-patent, meaning cheap generics and little incentive for drug companies to market them aggressively.
SSRIs etc. were a real breakthrough and work very well for some people. However, each has its own side effects, and many produce "discontinuation syndromes" as bad as or worse than benzos. I can't tolerate SSRIs at all, but do very well with benzos -- it's a highly individual thing.
Benzos have a long track record of safety and effectiveness, and many people have taken them for decades with no problems. But they just aren't big moneymakers, so of course the pharmaceutical companies are going to push their new, expensive products and hey, if they can scare doctors away from benzos at the same time, why not?
I predict that as the new generation of antidepressants and anxiolytics rolls in and SSRIs etc. continue to lose patent status, SSRIs and co. will be blacklisted too. This is a shame, because they really are life-changing meds for some people -- just like benzos (and tricyclics, and MAOIs, which aren't exactly "favored" meds either any more).
poster:Viridis
thread:314138
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040215/msgs/314363.html