The recovery process includes withdrawal, healing, finding personal supports, and learning new coping mechanisms. Recovery begins when a woman makes a commitment to herself to stop using benzodiazepines. Her goal is often to replace them with more positive coping skills. Although each person's experience of withdrawal from benzodiazepines is unique, women also have many common experiences. Support is an essential part of recovery.
Every woman benefits from having a safe, confidential place to talk and listen.
By learning positive coping skills and seeking support, women find it easier to deal with life's many difficulties, from grief, pain, chronic illness, insomnia, cultural changes, and divorce, to aging and death. Women often suffer in silence and isolation because they feel ashamed of their dependency on benzodiazepines. This is particularly true for a woman who trusted her family doctor and unknowingly became addicted to a prescription drug. She may fear the judgement of friends and family who discover she is hooked on a pill that was supposed to help her. For example, women with children or other dependants need programs that take account of their care-giving responsibilities.