Benzodiazepines (BDZ) are absolutely the most prescribed psychotropic drugs worldwide. They are prescribed for patients with anxiety and insomnia problems, to be used only for brief periods – 1 to 2 weeks for insomnia and up to 4 weeks for patients with generalized anxiety. In Italy the few research studies available on the epidemiology of the use of BDZ were carried out in the context of basic medical assistance, calculating the number of patients using BDZ with respect to the total number of patients being treated under general medicine. The data reports that 10% of these patients take tranquilizers and half of these are chronic users (daily users for a period of over six months). BDZs also represent the second class of most widely used drugs prescribed by Italian general practitioners after FANS (anti-nonsteroidal inflammatory medicines) and are by far the first among all the other important types od medicines such as diuretics, antiulcer, anti-diabetic drugs, etc. The use of tranquilizers increases with age, especially among women: it is estimated that one woman out of four after the age of 65 uses tranquilizers, while this percentage decreases to 9% amongst men. Besides age, other risk factors are being female, being unemployed or being retired. Lorezam, Diazepam, Bromezepam, Lormetazepan and Flurazepam all together represent 80% of the total amount of tranquilizers sold.

The abstinence syndrome is characterized by the following symptoms, starting within hours or days after the suspension of benzodiazepine:

Detoxification is achieved by scaling down the drug: a procedure that may need a few weeks to complete, or, according to the pre-hospitalization used by this Service, through continuous intravenous administration of antagonist drugs in small dosages, in the span of a week, following a reliable and safe method. However, the existence of valid detoxification methods must absolutely not make us forget the need for preventive actions, which in just a few years managed to sharply decrease abuse rates. Preventive action must be taken to remind doctors that the prolonged use of BDZs may induce serious forms of dependence, and to inform patients themselves that it may provoke potential dependence, and that the effectiveness of such drugs are best on short-term periods; patients and doctors must be reminded that other forms of treatment, such as individual therapeutic interventions or interventions within the home context, have also proven effective and are possible alternatives to BDZ; the collaboration between general practitioners and specialized psychiatrists should also be improved.