---
title: Does having used benzodiazepines before make withdrawal symptoms worse when stopping them?
description: No. Analysis of data from three clinical trials found that prior benzodiazepine use did not increase symptoms when stopping the medication, either in people w
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/prior-benzodiazepine-exposure-and-benzodiazepine-treatment-outcome-2000/
---

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- Does having used benzodiazepines before make withdrawal symptoms worse when stopping them?

Randomised trial, 2000

# Does having used benzodiazepines before make withdrawal symptoms worse when stopping them?

No. Analysis of data from three clinical trials found that prior benzodiazepine use did not increase symptoms when stopping the medication, either in people with PMS or anxiety disorder.

 Moderate study design

People with PMS and anxiety disorder from published clinical trials

## What they did

Analysis of data pooled from three published double-blind randomized trials: one giving alprazolam to people with PMS and two giving diazepam or lorazepam to people with anxiety disorder. Treatment was either continuous for 8 weeks or intermittent for 2 weeks with at least 2 weeks without medication. Researchers examined whether prior benzodiazepine use predicted worse symptoms when stopping.

## What they found

PMS patients had no increase in symptoms and no difference from placebo-treated subjects when stopping alprazolam in the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle. Anxiety disorder patients showed no difference in discontinuation symptoms based on whether they had used benzodiazepines before or how long ago they last used them.

## What it means for you

Short-term, low-dose benzodiazepine treatment does not appear to cause worse withdrawal symptoms even if you have used them before. These findings apply only to brief treatment at low doses.

3

Number of published trials analyzed

8 weeks

Continuous treatment duration

2 weeks

Intermittent treatment duration

## About the study

Original title Prior benzodiazepine exposure and benzodiazepine treatment outcome Authors Rickels K, Freeman EW Journal The Journal of clinical psychiatry Year 2000 Study design Randomised trial What was tested Brief benzodiazepine therapy (8 weeks continuous or 2-week intermittent courses) Read the paper [doi.org/10.4088/jcp.v61n0603](https://doi.org/10.4088/jcp.v61n0603)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Anxiety and tension](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-anxiety/)[Anxiolytics and other psychotropics](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-anxiolytics/)[Anxiety disorders and OCD](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-anxiety-disorders/)

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Survey study, 2001

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Survey study, 2000

Why do women get more anxious when hormone levels drop?

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