As I was perusing through the online site for "Psychology Today," I stumbled upon a rather interesting article that I have chosen to do my blog on. It is about Xanax, the anti-anxiety drug, and why more and more people are beginning to abuse it. It caught my eye because it is a drug that a lot of people have heard about and I even know quite a number of people that use the drug themselves. So I began to wonder, why is it so addictive, and why are people just rushing out to get it?
First, allow me to cover what Xanax is, and a short summary of how Xanax works. Xanax is an anti-anxiety drug, which means essentially that it calms you down. It relaxes the body when you are wound up. The thing about Xanax is, that it has a very short half-life, so it doesn't last long. But on the other hand, it is very lilpophilic which means that it enters the brain quickly. So it kinda hits you right away. So what I got out of it was that the pill relaxes you, the effects hit you quickly, but don't stay with you for very long. The half-life time is about six to twenty hours.
Apparently Xanax is all the rage these days because a clinic in Kentucky had to shut off their prescriptions to Xanax because people were coming in waves asking for prescriptions and refilling their own. Many of the clinic workers believe that it is being abused. So, instead, they cut off the prescriptions and began handing out different anti-anxiety medications.
But another aspect of Xanax is the fact that you can get withdrawals from not using. This most common of these effects being delirium and violent seizures. So the clinic is still helping to wean these users off of Xanax and hopefully breaking them of this addiction.
But my question for you, the readers is this. Why Xanax? There are many other anti-anxiety medications out there. What makes Xanax so special? I can honestly say that I hope that psychologists and pharmacologists figure out this issue soon, so they can help all of the poor addicts.
http://psychiatrist-blog.blogspot.com/2007/02/why-docs-dont-like-xanax-some-of-us.html
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shrink-rap-today/201109/xanax-is-my-favorite-palindrome
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