In Memory of Laurie Campbell, RN
We ask you to join us in honoring our co-founder, Laurie Campbell, RN. Laurie sadly passed away in March. Her work was instrumental to establishing this organization, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without her. We are grateful for her contributions to both our organization and to the benzodiazepine-harmed community. We will miss her.
Support Us
Our organization is the only patient-led organization in the world addressing prescribed benzodiazepine injuries. Your donation funds a movement that understands this problem at its core, because we live it. Our work relies solely on the generosity of our supporters and our volunteers. Our generous supporters allow us to:
- Conduct informed, relevant research
- Educate about prescribed benzodiazepine harms and safety protocols at conferences and events
- Maintain our website, reaching hundreds of thousands of people annually, with accurate benzodiazepine information and awareness about harm
- Facilitate our programs
If you are in a position to give, would you consider supporting this important cause with a donation today? You can make your donation here: https://www.benzoinfo.com/donate/
Outreach
The new year has kept our volunteers busy. Through our collaborative work with the Colorado Consortium, we have published three documents:
- Benzodiazepine Prescribing Guidance
- Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidance
- Benzodiazepine Peer Support
These documents can be printed and provided to anyone wanting to know more about prescribed benzodiazepine harm.
Media
On the media front, we recorded two new podcasts with Mark Leeds, D.O.:
- Medicating Normal: Why Are Psychiatric Meds Prescribed So Often?, available on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify
- Christy Huff, M.D.: The Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
Additionally, Trial Site News hosted Dr. Christy Huff as a guest on their podcast in this episode Cardiologist Discusses her Personal Experience with Benzodiazepine Withdrawal. This episode may be watched on YouTube.
Benzodiazepine Information Coalition also appears in a new sponsorship ad on PBS! In January, PBS began airing the documentary Medicating Normal on local stations across the U.S. and on the PBS app.
Anyone who tunes in will see our sponsorship spot featured at both the beginning and end of the film. We hope this sponsorship will expand our reach and important message about prescribed-benzodiazepine harm.
Research
We are currently collaborating with other experts in the field on several research papers to enhance the existing scientific literature regarding benzodiazepines. These projects include:
- development of a clinical toolkit to aid patients in the process of discontinuing benzodiazepines
- analyzing and publishing results from a 2018 survey of benzodiazepine support groups
- joining a team of medical experts and benzodiazepine survivors to name and define the neurological injury caused by benzodiazepines
Stay tuned for future developments and further papers.
BIC Updates
As of March, 2022, we have an updated, faster website.
We added two new #BenzoStories to our YouTube channel, Rose, and Jill.
New Benzo-Related Media
- NY Times
Covid Patients May Have Increased Risk of Developing Mental Health Problems
- Lown Institute
When meds taken “as prescribed” still cause harm
- Saving Country Music
On The New Details of Country Legend Tom T. Hall’s Death
- Wales Online (uses inaccurate addiction terminology)
‘Prescription pills have wrecked my life and I should never have been given them’
- People
Bob Saget Had Catastrophic Injuries to His Head, Was COVID Positive When He Died: Autopsy
- The Nation (primarily about antidepressants, but features our medical board member Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring and mentions benzodiazepines, protracted harm) Breaking Off My Chemical Romance
Benzo-Related Research
- Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
A 2015-2016 study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that while benzodiazepines are used by 12.5% of American adults, the rate of benzodiazepine use disorder (addiction) is low at 0.2%.
Research suggests benzodiazepine use is high while use disorder rates are low
- Advances in Therapy
Surviving Benzodiazepines: A Patient’s and Clinician’s Perspectives, by Steven Wright, M.D., shares insights about benzodiazepine discontinuation and harm from the lived experience of benzodiazepine survivor Carrie Silvernail.
Surviving Benzodiazepines: A Patient’s and Clinician’s Perspectives
- Nature Neuroscience
This animal study proposes a mechanism for cognitive impairment from long-term exposure to benzodiazepines.
Long-term diazepam treatment enhances microglial spine engulfment and impairs cognitive performance via the mitochondrial 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO)
- The Lancet
The proportion of overdose deaths from” Z-drugs” increased more than threefold between 2000 to 2018.
Overdose deaths involving non-BZD hypnotic/sedatives in the USA: Trends analyses
- Kaiser Permanente
This Kaiser Permanente performance improvement project reduced use of benzodiazepines in the management of alcohol withdrawal in the hospital, while also shortening hospital and ICU stays.
New approach to alcohol withdrawal treatment reduced patients’ time in the hospital
- Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
Residents of Ontario, Canada nursing homes are being given fewer antipsychotics and benzodiazepines, according to this study by the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
Potential Unintended Consequences of Antipsychotic Reduction in Ontario Nursing Homes
- Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
Benzodiazepine prescriptions for veterans with PTSD declined over a 10-year period.
Deimplementation of Benzodiazepine Prescribing in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the Veterans Health Administration
