Rehab Center for Sedative Addiction

For someone with a legitimate sedative prescription, abuse or misuse of a sedative (or any other medication) is defined as taking that medication more often than instructed and/or in larger amounts than instructed. For a person who doesn’t hold a legitimate prescription, abuse occurs when any amount of consumption takes place. In some cases, people in both groups participate in misuse/abuse out of a desire to experience the euphoric effects produced by a barbiturate or benzodiazepine that rapidly dissolves in the bloodstream. However, in other cases, abuse is a result of a sincere (if misguided) desire to feel or increase the therapeutic benefits of sedatives as anti-anxiety medications or sleep aids.

The human brain adjusts relatively quickly to the altered GABA levels triggered by barbiturates and benzodiazepines. Within a matter of weeks or months, it will start to view the presence of these medications as an expected situation. When this brain switch occurs, the affected person may be developing sedative dependence.

Dependence differs from addiction and can appear even in people who closely follow their doctor’s instructions. When doctors recognize this state, they can manage it and prevent it from progressing to addiction. However, in a person who consumes a sedative without the proper medical oversight, addiction is an ever-present possibility.

Two of the symptoms of sedative addiction overlap with the symptoms of sedative dependence are:

• The need to take increasing amounts of a barbiturate or benzodiazepine in order to feel its effects
• The onset of withdrawal symptoms when intake of a barbiturate or benzodiazepine does not meet the brain’s established expectations