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Withdrawal symptoms following discontinuation of benzodiazepine (BZ) therapy are a major cause of both excessive duration of use and physician reluctance to initiate BZ treatment. This double-blind study compared the efficacy of valproate (mean dose, 1609 (plusoverminus) 586 mg; n=19), trazodone (242 (plusoverminus) 104 mg; n=41), and placebo (18) in facilitating BZ discontinuation in chronic users of diazepam, alprazolam, or lorazepam.
After two weeks of BZ dose stabilization, patients were randomized to two weeks of valproate, trazodone, or placebo. BZ doses were tapered gradually (25% per week) and patients were maintained on the final taper dose for five more weeks, released to the care of their private MDs, and then followed naturalisti…