The use of benzodiazepines in anxiety and other disorders

Benzodiazepines have come under scrutiny and attack over recent years becau se of their abuse liability, withdrawal reactions and development of tolera nce. Consequently, practitioners worldwide are discouraged from prescribing them. While some of these risks may have been exaggerated, benzodiazepines remain a useful therapeutic tool, alone or in combination, in a number of psychiatric and medical conditions. Withholding such treatment may be unjus tified and detrimental to the patients' health. Further, benzodiazepines ha ve helped researchers in their attempts to elucidate the neurobiological me chanisms underlying anxiety. This, in return, leads to the development of n ew effective anxiolytic treatments, with fewer problems compared to the tra ditional benzodiazepine compounds. Such new agents are already available or at the closing stages of clinical trials. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.