tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2011-10-02:/rings066/psychology1001//14749 2011-10-02T19:18:09Z 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 Movable Type Enterprise 4.31-en tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2011:/rings066/psychology1001//14749.311587 2011-10-02T19:09:46Z 2011-10-02T19:18:09Z

Xanax. Everyone knows what it is, or at least have heard of the drug. But according to some articles in Psychology Today, people have become addicted to the substance and are beginning to abuse it heavily. My question is, why?...

rings066 Xanax. Everyone knows what it is, or at least have heard of the drug. But according to some articles in Psychology Today, people have become addicted to the substance and are beginning to abuse it heavily. My question is, why?
So let us start off with this. What exactly is Xanax? Why is it so addictive? Xanax is (as previously mentioned), an anti-anxiety drug. Essentially, this means that it helps your body to relax, and calm you down. One of the things that I found out about it though is that it is extremely lipophilic, which means that it enters your brain at a very quick rate. It's basically a "quick in, quick out," kind of drug. It has a short half-life (6-20 hours), which means that its effects don't last very long, which can draw people to want more of it. But the dangerous part of Xanax is the withdrawals. These can cause delirium and seizures. So, this seemingly helpful drug has turned out to be something that's highly abused.
There is a clinic in Kentucky that has had to shut off their prescriptions of Xanax because there is such a number of people all coming in, asking for the drug. The clinic has nothing to believe other than they are abusing the drug. But they haven't left those that are addicted, out to dry. They are slowly weaning them from the drug, and prescribing them lesser anti-anxiety medications in hopes that they can be cured.
I just find it so odd that a pill that is made to help so many people, ends up hurting so many. But why Xanax? Aren't there other anti-anxiety medications that would be just as sufficient? Is it just because of the quick effects? I honestly do not know, but maybe psychologists and pharmacologists can figure it out. And I hope that it is quickly.
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

]]>