Benefits of Xanax

Some prescription drugs become well known in popular culture, especially drugs related to the treatment of anxiety. Any number of neurotic or anxious characters who appear in comedies—think of any character ever played by Woody Allen, for example—may namecheck a pharmaceutical to get a laugh.

Use and Misuse

Xanax, a drug often prescribed for anxiety, is just such a drug. It is so commonly prescribed that a character can mention it, and the writers can be confident that everyone at home knows just what it is and what it used for. And so everybody—the studio audience, the folks at home on the couch, or (in a pinch) the laugh track—laughs.

But here’s the thing: Xanax (generic name: alprazolam) is no laughing matter. Especially if it is misused. And addiction to Xanax is the most frequently prescribed psychiatric drug in the United States, there are plenty of opportunities for misuse.

Let’s take a closer look at Xanax—both the ways it can help and the ways it can harm.

Xanax Truly Can Help X Out Anxiety

If you have a mental health disorder with an anxiety component, odds are you are all too familiar with a panicky feeling you just cannot shake. It might feel as though your brain is just racing away, following every stray thought and preventing you from calming down. Maybe your sleep is disrupted. Maybe social interactions seem especially difficult. Maybe you feel like your heart is beating twice as fast as it needs to all of the time.

In some circumstances, your doctor may decide that Xanax would provide you with some much-needed relief. Xanax is extremely effective and offers quick relief from those panicky feelings (this, of course, is why it is so often prescribed).

Xanax, which belongs to the class of drugs known as benzodiazepines (or “benzos”), works by slowing the overall amount of activity in your brain. As that activity decreases, a feeling of calm can settle in its place. The drug accomplishes this by working to depress the central nervous system.

All of that said, the use of Xanax is intended as a short-term solution. As a rule, your doctor will limit your prescription to no more than six weeks’ worth of the drug.

But some people are not ready to let go of the calm they experience when they take Xanax. And that can lead to problems in a hurry.