February 27, 2017

Why Taking Xanax for Anxiety Is Really, Really Stupid

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Anxiety feels awful. Every year hundreds of thousands of emergency room visits occur because people go from feeling anxious to feeling really, really anxious to having a panic attack. They then end up in the ER convinced they are having a heart attack. Anxiety is fear. We are still wired as if we were cavemen.

The anxiety we feel when we are running ten minutes late for an appointment is SUBJECTIVELY FELT the same way, with the same intensity, as if our loved ones were about to be eaten by a saber-tooth tiger. Our bodies do the same thing, release the same neurotransmitters, regardless of whether we are late for an appointment or if our family was about to be devoured by a saber-tooth tiger. Xanax works great.

The first few times we take it, it immediately decreases our distress. We don’t get uptight if we are ten minutes late, we don’t feel the same fear/panic/anxiety as if we are being attacked by a large, toothy animal. But, what happens the second or third time we take Xanax? It still works, but, we start to adapt to the chemical relaxation. When we use Xanax regularly, something happens…

When the Xanax wears off, we get anxious!! The number one side effect of Xanax leaving our body is that our body screams, “Hey, how ‘bout some more Xanax?” This is important so allow me to re-state it. Please.

The main side effect of Xanax wearing off is that our body/mind creates more anxiety… And this anxiety cries out for more Xanax. Doctors write nearly 50 million prescriptions for Xanax or alprazolam (the cheap, generic equivalent) every year–that’s more than one Xanax prescription every second (please read the source of the accurate statistic- http://www.forbes.com/2010/09/16/prozac-xanax-valium-business-healthcare-psychiatric-drugs.html ). It is the best-selling psychiatric drug in America, and that is some accomplishment. I believe the majority of doctors have lost the ability to discriminate whether a drug should truly be prescribed or not.

And, I believe, it is much, much easier for medical professionals to prescribe Xanax than to not prescribe Xanax. If Doctor Z doesn’t prescribe Xanax, then Doctor Z will then be forced to A) talk to the patient, and, therefore B) spend more time with the patient.

So, what should you do? Take more Xanax? I am glad you asked…Hey, how ‘bout we get to the root of our anxiety? Hey, how ‘bout we get to root of the underlying cause? The problem is, if we are sedated, medicated and numbed out– consistently taking the edge off whenever we feel anxious–then we will NEVER get to the root of the problem. The “root of the issue” is two-fold:

  • 1-Why do I feel overwhelmed by my anxiety?
  • 2-How can I cope with my anxiety without a Chill Pill?

There is no shortcut here. It just takes good therapy….