What if the medication you are taking to reduce your anxiety is interfering with your ability to manage anxiety? Benzodiazepines such as Xanax, Valium, Ativan, Klonopin, Librium, and Restoril reduce activity in the amygdala, which helps you feel better; they also interfere with the new learning required for self-managing emotional distress. If you are using benzodiazepines for ongoing anxiety management, you may want to learn about the risks of only temporarily feeling less distressed and develop new skills to manage anxiety.

More than 30 million adults in the United States take benzodiazepines, more than any other psychiatric drug. This prescribing trend continues despite the widespread abuse of the medication,

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