Why are benzos considered more addictive and than SSRIs/SNRIs?

[thetrickistokeepbreathing]

Why is it that benzos are considered more addictive than antidepressants?

With SSRIs/SNRIs, people often experience withdrawal symptoms when discontinuing them and need to taper off of them, plus some are known for being more difficult to get off of than others, which means that we do form a dependence on them as well, right? Why, then, are benzos considered by doctors to be more addictive and dangerous/less appropriate for longterm use? Am I misunderstanding the concept of addictiveness?

[Warbirdwf]

Some Benzo's like Xanax have a very short life in your body. Example, you could take a .5 mg Xanax and it would only last for 4-6 hours then your body wants more. So, you literally could go into withdrawals after 6 hours of taking your last Xanax. I'd suggest you Google Benzo withdrawals. There is a lot of comprehensive information out there. Some scary reading for sure.

[WiSp]

SSRIs are not addictive. You mix addiction with dependence. Both have some bad results but don't work the same way. A dependence is that your body has changed with the med, and a change with the med is brutal and the body needs to get used to it. It was dependent to it and needs to work to get things stable again. Your body doesn't claim the med: it just see that something is wrong now. Something changed. The work of the med is not assured anymore. So your body will try to cope with it.

But addiction is when the body claims the med. It doesn't want to continue without it. Results are a withdrawal too. But addiction is more dangerous because it also affect your psychic. You need the med, you feel it, you want it. You would do anything to get it. Your body doesn't think, but it wants the med in the same way. It can be powerful. Addicted people will really have a hard time to give up those meds. And without, they may feel worse than before they begin to take them. It's another reason why it will be hard to give up. So the more you take, more the addiction will be strong. With SSRIs, you could take the maximum dosage and it doesn't have bad consequences to wean of it slowly. It will just be longer at a high dosage. You will get a similar withdrawal at each time you drop the dose a bit. Because this is dependence and not addiction. But if you are at the max of a benzo, to try to stop it can make you suffer much. You may live an anxiety stronger than ever before. Your body claims the med badly. Just think about nicotine, heroine, desintox centers, and you will understand why doctors are scarred about benzos. They don't want to take the responsability of all this.

If you want, there is an article explaining difference between: tolerance, addiction, dependence. http://www.anxietyzone.com/index.php?article=13289.0

But if you need benzos anyway, convince your doctor to just give you some, and that you will use them only a few times with a low dosage. This way you have much more less chance to become addicted.