Xanax Addiction: Definition, Symptoms, Causes, Treatment
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Although an intervention may encourage your loved one to seek treatment, it can also have the opposite effect. Confrontation-style interventions may lead to shame, anger, or social withdrawal. Xanax is the brand name for Alprazolam, a prescription Sedative in the Benzodiazepines family. Benzodiazepines were originally developed as a replacement for Barbiturates.
Overall, benzodiazepines are considered to be some of the most highly addictive prescription drugs on the market. Well, an individual can become hooked to this drug in a matter of just weeks. Even according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, daily benzodiazepine use for six weeks or more can result in dependency for four in every 10 users. Consequently, more than 33,000 individuals were admitted to emergency rooms for benzodiazepine overdoses in 2010.
Using Xanax Inappropriately
When someone takes a drug—as a prescription medication including opioids or Xanax—on a regular schedule, the medication will adjust the user’s brain chemistry. Over time, this adjustment to how the brain manages neurotransmitters will become normal and the brain will need the drug to manage its chemistry. This is called physical dependence — when the brain requires the presence of a drug to reach chemical equilibrium.
Without Xanax, an individual that suffers from Xanax dependency might experience an achiness all over his or her body as that person’s body begins processing the substance out. Such pain and discomfort can be treated with over-the-counter pain relievers. Physical addiction to Xanax is evident when an individual’s body can no longer function properly or healthily without the actual substance. Physical xanax addiction is marked by Xanax withdrawal symptoms that result when the substance is discontinued.
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Counseling and education to that end can be done in various treatment settings through individual, group and family sessions. All three substances are central nervous system depressants that interact to increase the depressant effects of each other. Xanax is a benzodiazepine type of sedative commonly used in psychiatric treatment for stress, anxiety, panic and insomnia. Addiction occurs when a person’s brain makes chemical changes to itself due to excessive substance use and drug dependency.
Severe mental health effects, like psychosis and delirium, can also happen during Xanax withdrawal. Hospital-based care for Xanax addiction combines medical attention and addiction services. Partial hospitalization within residential or outpatient programs can also help the person wean off Xanax and work through addiction-related mental health issues.
How to Spot Xanax Addiction
Benzodiazepines are implicated in approximately one-third of intentional overdoses or suicide attempts (Henderson et al., 1993). The prolonged and consistent medication increases the likelihood of becoming dependent. Risks such as high doses for short periods, previous history of substance dependence, and passive dependent personalities are among the factors for developing dependence on benzodiazepines. Xanax® is experiencing more widespread use, both as a prescription and as a recreational drug.
More precisely, in https://ecosoberhouse.com/, an individual continues using the drug or seeking more of it despite the harmful consequences it causes. 5 of the top 10 reasons teenagers misuse prescription drugs have to do with accessibility. Some studies indicate that senior and elderly medicated patients may be at heightened risk of developing addiction due to the number and variety of drugs they take for health reasons. Dependency is more likely to occur if a person is abusing large amounts of Xanax or using it too frequently.
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Someone addicted to Xanax will compulsively seek it out, irrespective of negative consequences. Drugs, like Xanax, affect the brain’s reward system by creating dopamine-induced feelings of pleasure and relaxation. Surges of dopamine reinforce pleasurable behaviours and encourage repetition of that behaviour, even if the activity is unhealthy. Alprazolam is also excreted into breast milk in low concentrations. There are few case reports of alprazolam causing neonatal withdrawal syndrome and mild drowsiness in nursing infants (Iqbal et al., 2002).
What is better than Xanax for sleeping?
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Before taking Xanax or other medication for insomnia, a person should consider CBT. Research suggests CBT could be more effective than medication for long-term insomnia relief. The American College of Physicians also recommend CBT as a first-line treatment for insomnia.