Most benzodiazepines are only active for a few weeks, they pose a high risk of dependence and have an unfavourable side-effect profile.
Since I'm old, crippled and absolutely avoid medication where an alternative exists,
I suppose I could reasonably expect a short course of benzodiazepines for an appropriate, short-term disorder. But whenever people ask, it tends to be young, healthy people for whom a change in lifestyle and possibly an appointment with a psychologist, dietician or even psychiatrist.
Avoidance of caffeine and other stimulants, regular sleep patterns and at least 1 hour of exercise a day will significantly reduce anxiety. Keeping busy and setting goals helps to treat depression which might be the underlying cause. If you need a few benzodiazepines to overcome agoraphobia and/or GAD to let you get out and begin this process, then a doctor might consider it an option.
But they are aware that benzodiazepines often result in negative outcomes. Benzos suspend the grieving process, for example. So are contra-indicated even for certain rare events. If you have to give the eulogy and suffer severe anxiety for speaking in public, they might give you a couple of 5mg diazepam. Flying is also a common fear and again you might get 2 or 3 for the trip out and 2 or 3 for the return trip.
Doctors are only too well aware that drug-seeking behaviors are most commonly encountered with the benzodiazepines. That their are ALWAYS benzodiazepines available on the street - benzodiazepines that have come from prescriptions makes them rightly concerned. After all, in the past some doctors prescribed so freely that their is a generation of people who are prescribed a LOT of benzodiazepines and will continue to do so for the rest of their lives because detoxification would be too hazardous. Often the person simply keeps on getting repeat prescriptions and just puts them in a cupboard... until a younger person points out that they have hundreds or even thousands of pounds worth of drugs just sat there. My own grandmother had over 200 temazepam in her home when she died. I had no idea, none of us did.
Opioids, while more tightly controlled, are often, one might say USUALLY kept by the elderly as a way to take back some control. Like my grandmother, they conclude that if things get TOO bad (and for that generation, I mean 1930s bad), they have the option of a clean death. I know people are still discovering bottles of Quaaludes in home clearances.