The Other Epidemic: Trying to get off benzodiazepines
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The gist
Author Brad Phillips describes withdrawal after stopping Klonopin, taken daily for 19 years.
His account highlights how little is settled about getting off benzodiazepines.
Background
Brad Phillips is the author of "The Other Epidemic," published in Believer Magazine, who took the benzodiazepine Klonopin daily for nineteen years before beginning to taper off in 2021. Benzodiazepines are drugs widely prescribed and marketed for decades as safe; they enhance GABA, the body's natural tranquilizer, and long-term use leaves the brain hyperstimulated once the drug stops. The piece arrives after major outlets covered benzo withdrawal and a medical society released tapering guidelines, and it examines what happens when people try to get off the drugs.
How it unfolded
- 1999British psychopharmacologist Dr. Heather Ashton published "Benzodiazepines: How They Work and How to Withdraw," known as the Ashton Manual, which lists every symptom Phillips experienced.
- 2015 -2016An estimated 30.6 million American adults had taken benzodiazepines in the previous year; 25.3 million used them as prescribed.
- April 2021Brad Phillips walked into Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) with suicidal thoughts; a doctor told him to stop taking Klonopin after nearly two decades of daily use.
- 2021Six days after admission he was released with taper instructions meant to free him of the drug in three weeks; per LavX, doctors gave instructions for a faster taper using lorazepam.
- 2021Within 48 hours of a smaller dose his hands tingled and he could not stop sweating; within a week he could not exercise, write, bathe, or cook.
- 2021In the second week of withdrawal he felt like a conduit for lightning, hours of being electrocuted, distinct from SSRI "brain zaps."
- Spring 2025The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), with FDA funding, released benzodiazepine-tapering guidelines recommending dosage reductions of 5% to 10% every one to two weeks.
- Sep 30, 2026Phillips's account "The Other Epidemic" was published in Believer Magazine, Issue one hundred fifty-five.
Who’s saying what
- Author
- Phillips writes that the doctor said he shouldn't have been on Klonopin so long, almost like he'd been writing his own prescriptions for nineteen years, and that going off it would reduce his mood swings.
- Caution
- LavX News's Lukas Brandt argues ASAM's name reinforces the misperception that benzo patients are addicts, saying many are physically dependent because they trusted their doctors.
- Analysts
- Brandt says real progress requires acknowledging the distinction between addiction and physical dependence.
Still unverified
Estimates of the share of users experiencing protracted withdrawal differ: Ashton estimates 10% to 15%, while researcher Sean Hood suggests it could reach 40%.