From: mdkline@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Mark D. Kline)
Subject: Re: Xanax
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 11:36:09 EDT

In article <1992Jul26.221138.3695@equator.com> jod@equator.com (John Setel O'Donnell) writes:
>
>>geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks) writes:
>>
>>>Xanax is a powerful anxiolytic which should only be taken by
>>>prescription of a psychiatrist in my opinion (yeah, I know
>>>a lot of docs prescribe it, but I don't agree with that).
>>>It is addictive, seizures can result from rapid withdrawal.
>>
>>>...most patients who get on Xanax are on it or some similar drug
>>>for the rest of their lives.
>
>
>The outlook for those taking Xanax or some similar drug for life is
>poor.  Beyond addiction, the rate of drug-induced problems such as
>tardive dyskinesia is high.  It's a downward spiral with drugs not
>working, side-effects and dosages increasing, changing drugs, etc.

This is unadulterated bullshit.  Benzodiazepines such as Xanax do not
cause tardive dyskinesia.  Tolerance/abuse/dependence/addiction to
benzodiazepines is very rare among anxious patients.  

>
>Anxiety that's out of proportion to current circumstances is a clue, a
>partially-hidden memory of old trauma.  It's not about "being crazy"
>or having something essentially wrong with you.  It's about what
>happenned to you long ago (the memories of which do change your brain
>chemistry, as even the biopsychiatrists report).  The meaning of it,
>and the specifics of what happenned, are hidden. 

The old trauma theory has been along for a long time.  Except for the
case of Post-traumatic stress disorders, there exists very little
evidence to support it.    If only it were true, all the people who
have empathic psychotherapists would already be feeling SO much better...

>
>Instead of destructively numbing it out with drugs, it's far better to
>find a good therapist (generally *not* a psychiatrist, *not* a
>psychoanalyst; find someone in recovery who specializes in working
>with abuse.  Go for someone with empathy, not for someone with a
>degree).  Remembering the old trauma and working it through reduces or
>eliminates the current fear or anxiety, without drugs, without
>drug-induced damage, and without biopsychiatric blame-the-victim stuff
>about "your brain is out of balance".
>

Why a specialist in "abuse?"  Is that the cause of any and all
anxiety?  Making a diagnosis of psychiatric disorder and blaming the
victim are two different things.   The form of psychotherapy with the
best documented efficacy in anxiety disorders is behavioral and cognitive,
not the kind of "remembering the old trauma" that you describe. 


>---
>For references, check out Peter Breggin's book, _Toxic Psychiatry_ (I've been 
>trashed on sci.med for posting about it before), or one of the many
>good books on trauma and recovery.  One I like is Jane Middleton-Moz, 
>_Children of Trauma_.  Only Breggin tackles and documents the drug-related
>issues, though.

Peter Breggin's book is full of crap.  The guy is into promoting his
career, not the welfare of people with serious mental illness.   Anyone
with an interest in the modern treatment of serious mental illness
would do better to read something like Andreasen's "The Broken Brain"
or Yudofsky or Gorman's consumer oriented books on psychopharmarcology;
these latter books are firmly based in the scientific literature.
Breggin's book is based on nothing, expcept perhaps his desire to ride
the Thomas Szasz/Mental Patients Liberation Front wave to celebrity.
The scientologists and like minded souls love him.  Nobody else takes
him seriously.

Thomas Szasz was one of my supervisors when I was finishing my psychiatric
training.  I used to be very anti-drug myself.  I became a convert to
psychopharmacology based on the good I saw it do, and continue to see on
a daily basis.   Drugs cause side effects.  But they help lots of people
for whom psychotherapy is just a holding action.

--
=================================================================
mark kline                                mdkline@mailbox.syr.edu
suny health science center, syracuse      voice: (315) 422-1050
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