Got prescribed benzos twenty years ago to cope with stress-related asthma. Worked like a charm. Allowed me to have a professional life and a career. Then in 2018 my doc said benzos were bad and made me go cold turkey. Thought I was going to die. To this day I don't sleep, but no one believes me when I tell them.

It’s not addiction. It’s dependence. And you can die if you stop abruptly.

She doesn't have an anxiety disorder. She has childhood trauma. The system just threw an addiction on top of the trauma that is still there.

It is DEPENDENCY, not ADDICTION!! They always get this wrong..

Not an addition! It’s a dependency!

I tapered off 10mg of Xanax that I was on for 17 years. It took me 6 years to get off. Started at .25mg and my doctor went up to 10mg and he said I would be on for the rest of my life. It stole over a decade of my life because he wouldn't help me taper off. So I had to do it myself.

I have struggled with mental illness and my mental health since I was a kid. Before I even knew what those terms were. After years of depression, anxiety, and even an attempt to take my life, I never thought I would be able to live without psych medications. I clung to them because it was the only thing that made my mind quiet, but it also made me a zombie. Microdosing has given me control of my mental health for the first time, and they essentially gave me my life back.

My doctor nor pharmacist ever told me how bad withdrawal would be. It’s not addiction. It’s dependency. Get it right

I appreciate that reporters are trying to relay this problem, I would love to see them replace the word addiction with dependence. When a Dr prescribes this medication for long term use, it changes the brain to be dependent and the patient is unable to function without it. Their brain has been damaged and needs to slowly repair itself. Addiction is different.

3 bars a day??? Shame on that doctor. That’s insane

Tapering is rough. But not as rough as cold turkey

I'd like to add many of us are dependent rather than addicted. We want off but our bodies need it to literally survive. Our Dr's are educated through the pharmaceutical companies who sell them on the drug. Unfortunately big pharma didn't educate the Dr's on the quick dependency and torturous withdrawal process. Yes, we have been left to educate ourselves and support ourselves in online support groups. The even harder part is educating our Dr's on what is happening with us. We are told we're sensitive, crazy, all in our heads and then poly drugged which further complicates things.

I clicked this thinking it said "Bezos", like people addicted to Amazon

It takes much longer for most than just a year. It can take many years.

I have a lot of these same problems & I’m type two bipolar but when I speak about it & my medication I’m not smiling about it. It’s terrible. It may just be a coping mechanism but it’s nothing to laugh about.

If people are going to do videos like this, they need to learn the difference between 'Addiction' and 'Dependence' and stop looking like morons! Taking a prescription exactly as prescribed by a doctor is completely different than being a drug addict!

Doctors should be made responsible for their actions. People trust them as experts but they don't even mention possibility of addiction? Damn.

One of the most beautiful people in the world to me was prescribed Xanax, and it slowly consumed her. She eventually took her own life. In the end the drugs had changed her, and she was taking a high dose. Please be careful with anything you put in your body.

My life is ruined. All i needed was therapy and i new i just needed to talk about my emotional situation with therapy. Husband insisted instead i take medication . I kept saying no no no. All i need is therapy. I was functional i wasn't depressed. I listened, biggest mistake of my life. My life is ruined. All i needed therapy

Klonopin is a Death sentence