Many people with PTSD experience anxiety, insomnia, and irritability. Some 30-74% are prescribed benzodiazepines (BZDs) for these symptoms. Unfortunately, using BZDs to treat PTSD backfires.
In 2015, psychiatrist Jeffrey Guina of Wright State University of Dayton, OH, and colleagues published an extensive meta-analysis on the effects of BZDs for the treatment of PTSD. What they found is that BZDs prolong and worsen PTSD. They increase anxiety and irritability. They inhibit the deepest, most restorative stage of sleep. They cause emotional numbness, increase avoidance of trauma reminders, and prevent cognitive processing of the trauma that caused PTSD.
The Health Division of Wolters Kluwer published the meta-analysis. On top of these problems, BZDs are highly addictive and quite challenging to wean off. Sudden stoppage of BZDs can cause death. If you have PTSD and your physician or psychiatrist suggests a prescription for BZDs, say no.
