The reason benzos don’t work long term for anxiety is because they don’t actual address the cause of anxiety. They just address the symptoms. Long term benzo use only causes tolerance and dependence and then you’re in a world of pain having to come off them because they will stop working.
Therapy will always trump any medication when it comes to anxiety and I know people hate hearing this but it’s worth a try.
Yeah you're right, for the majority of cases.
What if you've tried CBT therapy and it didn't work though, because it's not set up to work for Autistic people. This is because it tries to invalidate your thoughts and perceptions as inaccurate and faulty, when in fact they are not. I'm not imagining that I'm weird and that people think I'm weird. It is a fact. I've only just grasped what "gaslighting" actually means and unfortunately that is exactly what CBT can do for Autistic people who attempt CBT, if it hasn't been tweaked for Autism. I don't think such a therapy exists, yet, although it really should. There's nof far off a million diagnosed Autistic people in the UK alone with no access to any workable therapies. What a dire situation. However I am still glad that I tried the therapy, I owed it to myself to try it, and at least it was the constant questioning, pusshing, prodding, and probing, as to the reasons why behind everything where what helped me to finally click that I probably have Autism. Many parts of it were so frustrating though, at one point descending into an argument about whether my perceptions were valid or not. But it lead to my Autism diagnosis and I now understand myself a great deal better. *
I have social anxiety off the scale due to the social difficulties my autism causes me. There is nothing to address that, except for benzos which help me massively. Overall My quality and richness of life, and life experiences has increased massively since I discovered benzos. They have allowed me to do things I could not otherwise have done, so socially crippled am I.
I know being pro benzo use isn't conventional wisdom, or what you are supposed to say. But is true in my case. Benzos do work for me when nothing else does and they help me fit in and act normal enough to get along with people and hold down a job etc.. I've managed to keep my doses low by abstaining on certain days. Yes it is difficult to manage, but it can be done.
I am very intrigued about what you meant regarding ruining your medications in the future? Did you mean concerning the prescription of benzos which I understand can sometimes be offered to terminally ill patients who are in great distress about being terminally ill?
THis post has been a bit rushed so I fear I haven't got the tone right, as it's more blunt and direct than I'd ideally like but it contains the main points I wanted to make.
(*I have a pending ADHD assessment coming up too. As if it's not hard enough just to have Autism., I'd have to have ADHD too. At least I strongly suspect that I do. I was 95% sure I had Autism and that turned out correct. I'm 99% sure about my ADHD. If not for likely ADHD I might have been able to benefit from some of the positives of Autism, like the intense focus, but my suspected ADHD generally wipes that out. Autism and ADHD cancel out many aspects of each other but yet they commonly co-occur in 30-70% cases of Autism)