There exists a large, mostly-underground, a growing community consisting of those iatrogenically harmed by benzodiazepines. Guilty only of following doctors orders, these patients are marginalized and misunderstood. This has been enabled, at least in part, by poor terminology.
Recently on Twitter, Michael P. Hengartner and Marnie Wedlake both posted critical questions in response to a benzodiazepine news story:
In response to Michael’s, my immediate thought was that not knowing is a direct result of the conflation of addiction with prescribed physical dependence. Countless testimonies can be located online from patients whose medical providers reassured them not to worry about long-term benzodiazepine use because they lacked “an addictive personality.”
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