Just Released!
The most complete and authoritative work on benzodiazepines.
The Benzodiazepines Crisis: The Ramifications of an Overused Drug Class
by John F. Peppin, Joseph V. Pergolizzi (Jr.), Robert B. Raffa, Steven L. Wright. Oxford University Press, 2020 ISBN 0197517277, 9780197517277
“Benzodiazepines were developed to treat legitimate medical needs. However, unbridled success and prescribing beyond their intended duration of use and the available data has led to excessive prescribing, extended utilization beyond good therapeutic practice, and unintended adverse effects and substance use disorder. This book is the first to bring to light and discuss the largely unrecognized and enigmatic problem of an exceedingly prolonged withdrawal syndrome from benzodiazepines that can persist for months or years in susceptible patients, and the medical need for better evidence-based prescribing of benzodiazepines, and a call for the recognition and better treatment of the prolonged withdrawal syndrome…”
This book was written by a team of 12 medical professionals at the request of and with input from the Alliance. This is the most authoritative work ever produced on benzodiazepines and their effects and problems. From clinical presentation through neuropharmacology and treatment, this work presents the analysis of over a thousand research papers on benzodiazepines from every viewpoint. The evidence presented overwhelmingly describes the pattern of over-prescription of these medications and the resultant development of dependence in nearly half of the patients who use them for more than 4 weeks. Many of the authors were initially resistant to this conclusion, but were moved by the evidence to support it.
Conceived by the Alliance, this has been a multi-year project. Our own Dr. Steven Wright is not only a major contributor to the book, but is also one of its editors. The authors have generously designated their royalty payments from the sale of this remarkable book as contributions to the Alliance in support of our ongoing mission to halt the spread of the benzodiazepine crisis.
