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Issues Relevant to Prescribing

James H. Woods, PhD; Jonathan L. Katz, PhD; Gail Winger, PhD

JAMA. 1988;260(23):3476-3480.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

THE WIDESPREAD use of benzodiazepines has been a source of concern and debate, due in large part to the traditional association of "mood-altering" or sedating drugs with problems of abuse and dependence. Such problems have indeed been reported with the benzodiazepines, and the view has emerged that abuse and dependence might account for a substantial proportion of benzodiazepine use. On the other hand, many investigators^1-5 have found that most use of benzodiazepines is appropriate to the prevalence of the medical and psychiatric conditions for which they are deemed effective. Physicians prescribing these drugs are faced with the need to weigh the potential risk to their patients against the drugs' demonstrated benefit in the treatment of anxiety and insomnia.

We have recently conducted a comprehensive review of the extensive experimental, clinical, and epidemiologic literature pertinent to the use and abuse of benzodiazepines.⁶ Our review indicates that these two predominant . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Pharmacology, The University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Drs Woods and Winger); the Preclinical Pharmacology Branch, Addiction Research Center, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore (Dr Katz); and Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore (Dr Katz).

Footnotes
The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the agencies or institutions with which the authors are affiliated nor of the organizations providing funds for this work.

Reprint requests to M6322 Medical Science 1, The University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (Dr Woods).

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