International investigators fight against the negative campaign on benzodiazepines

In the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomaticsthere is news about an international group of investigators who felt that benzodiazepines are getting unwarranted bad press, compared to other psychotropic drugs.

Since their introduction in the mid-1900s, benzodiazepines have been widely prescribed due to their versatility, tolerability and ease of use. Despite unsurpassed anxiolytic properties, a relatively benign adverse effect profile and popularity among physicians of various disciplines, benzodiazepines' reputation has been gradually damaged by the appearance in the scientific literature of publications reporting on negative properties of benzodiazepines.

This negative campaign has intensified since the introduction of new antidepressant drugs and has aroused suspicion of benzodiazepines by overlooking their benefits while overemphasizing their risks and side effects.

These investigators have created the International Task Force on Benzodiazepines, with the stated goal to provide various psychiatric and medical audiences with evidence-based, unbiased and clinically relevant information about benzodiazepines to inform effective, proper and safe clinical care.