I was reading Psychology Today, and I found myself stumbling upon a strange article. It was about how the anti-anxiety pill Xanax is starting to draw addictions and people are having a really hard time kicking it.
Let me first kind of explain to you how Xanax works, and how it affects the brain. It's a prescription drug, and its an anti-anxiety medication, so it basically calms you down. The thing that makes Xanax so addicting is the fact that it is very lilophillic which means that it enters your brain quickly. It also has a short half-life, so the effects don't last super long. So it's kind of like a "quick in, quick out." Which makes people want it, and want it now. Not to mention that the withdrawals include seizures and delirium.
So at a clinic in Kentucky, the staff has had so many requests for Xanax, they can only suspect it's being abused. They even stopped giving it out to patients, but are still willing to help them wean off the drug, because of the previously mentioned withdrawals.
I'm just amazed to find that something that is supposed to be so helpful can be so highly addictive. I mean, there are other anti-anxiety medications, why is Xanax the one that everyone wants? Maybe because of the short half-life, maybe because it's a name that everyone knows. I'm honestly not sure. All I do know is that it's slowly becoming more and more dangerous.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shrink-rap-today/201109/xanax-is-my-favorite-palindrome
http://psychiatrist-blog.blogspot.com/2007/02/why-docs-dont-like-xanax-some-of-us.html
