Family Doctors, PLEASE don't prescribe Xanax or Klonopin!



From Daniel Palestrant, Founder & CEO of Sermo
Several hundred physicians on Sermo respond to one Psychiatrist’s plea to not prescribe Xanax or Klonopin. From the psychiatrist’s perspective, the addictive nature of these medications only serves to further exacerbate the patient’s ability to recover. Click below to scroll through the hundreds of physician comments and see the results of the survey.

Originally Posted to the Sermo Community
By: psychiatristnj, Psychiatry

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MD Comments
Poll Results

Family Doctors, PLEASE don't prescribe Xanax or Klonopin (or Valium or ativan)!   The next time someone comes to you and tells you they have anxiety or panic attacks give them an SSRI or give them vistaril or give them Buspar but PLEASE don't prescribe Xanax or Klonopin.   It's a big mistake.   These medicines are addictive.  Even the best intentioned patients find that one tablet works for a while and then after a while they need two because one stops working.  They don't relieve the panic attack or anxiety.  They are a bandaid for a larger problem.  
Would you give a bandaid for a severed limb?   The patients have to learn relaxation techniques.   They should go buy a CD on relaxation techniques.   They should exercise to reduce stress.   Patients end up taking these meds when they're angry to calm themselves down.   Then they go to a psychiatrist, maybe, and they're already hooked on these pills.   People, particularly young people in their 20s, take an extra pill or two when one doesn't work and then they go driving and they get pulled over for a DUI.  The police don't care if it is prescribed.  If they appear intoxicated they will lose their  license.  It's happened to my patients before I stopped prescribing these medicines.  When you give them Xanax or Klonopin, you're essentially telling them they should not work on their problems.   Panic attacks are over 90% curable by cognitive behavior therapy which in the case of panic attacks includes breathing and relaxation exercises in addition to positive self talk so they stop catastrophizing.   I know as a family doctor (or internist) you don't have time to tell the patient all of this, but you're hurting your patients by getting them hooked on Xanax and Klonopin.   Come on guys, you might as well tell them to drink a beer (if you're trying to hit the GABA receptors.)