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Re-evaluating benzodiazepines for anxiety disorders – déjà-vu all over again?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2023

Ian M. Anderson Open the ORCID record for Ian M. Anderson [Opens in a new window]
Ian M. Anderson*
Affiliation:
Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry in the Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, UK. His research interests are in psychopharmacology and affective disorders. He was Director of the Specialist Service for Affective Disorders in Manchester and Chair of the Guideline Development Group for the CG90 NICE guidelines for the treatment and management of depression in adults (2009).
*
Correspondence Ian M. Anderson. Email: ian.anderson@manchester.ac.uk
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Summary

Benzodiazepines have attracted controversy from shortly after their introduction. They have been subject to periodic calls for their use to be re-evaluated on the basis that their risks have been overstated and their benefits underappreciated. Claims made in recent editorials from the International Task Force on Benzodiazepines in support of their wider use are critiqued in this issue. I examine here whether there is a case to change the conclusions of previous reconsiderations of the question.

Keywords

Benzodiazepinesanxiety disordersantidepressantsdependenceguidelines
Type
Commentary
Information
BJPsych Advances , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , January 2024 , pp. 51 - 52
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

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Footnotes

Commentary on… The devil is in the detail. See this issue.

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