As we all know many general practitioners prescribe alprazolam day in and day out to their patients for insomnia, anxiety and depression. As a psychiatrist, I would like to point out the harms of doing so. Alprazolam is a benzodiazepine acting on GABA-A receptors in the brain. It is one of the short acting benzodiazepines with an approximate half-life of 10 to 12 hours. It has an immediate onset of action and makes the patient feel "better" in just a few hours.
However being a short-acting benzodiazepine it has a very notorious addiction potential. Unlike lorazepam or clonazepam which has an approximate half-life of 17 to 18 and 25 to 30 hours respectively, the effect of alprazolam wears off very quickly leaving the patient "high and dry" and causing something known as "rebound anxiety" . In patients with anxiety and depression, it may even worsen the symptoms. In cases of insomnia, it…
