Academic Highlights: Benzodiazepines: Revisiting Clinical Issues in Treating Anxiety Disorders

This AcademicHighlights section of The Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry presents the highlights of the meeting "Utilizing Benzodiazepines in Clinical Practice: An Evidence-Based Discussion" held August 16, 2004, in Boston, Mass., and supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Pfizer Inc. This report was prepared by the CME Institute of Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.Chair Jerrold F. Rosenbaum, M.D., began the meeting by explaining that he had been asked to be a discussant at a case conference at Massachusetts General Hospital where Samantha A. Stewart, M.D., presented the case of a woman (described herein by Dr. Stewart) who was admitted with cognitive deficits potentially caused by benzodiazepine abuse and dependence--issues that were heavily debated during the 1980s. Dr. Rosenbaum stated that the purpose of the meeting was to address concerns related to benzodiazepine use in clinical practice today.