Anxiolysis means reduction of anxiety. Medicines that can reduce anxiety are called anxiolytics.

What are benzodiazepines?

Benzodiazepines, called benzos in everyday speech, are medicines with a calming and relaxing effect. People also call them sleeping pills or tranquillisers. The name of the active substance usually ends in ‘pam’.

Benzodiazepines are often prescribed for a short period when you have a lot of anxiety or restlessness, or when you have sleep problems.

Medication does not solve the problems

Medication does not solve the problems that lie behind these symptoms. It is important to give them attention and to get a view of the underlying causes. Working on this is usually a long and complicated personal process, in which many factors in your life play a part.

At the same time, working on this, with or without professional support, is the key to dealing with the tension and to being able to taper off this medication again. It is a continuing search for the balance between feeling comfortable, daring to step outside your comfort zone with new challenges, and then learning to feel comfortable again with the new behaviour you have learned.

Addictive effect

Benzodiazepines are addictive. This means that the body becomes dependent on them, that more and more medication is needed for the same effect, or that withdrawal symptoms arise when you stop. Always use these medicines in good consultation with a doctor and taper off carefully. Read the package leaflet so that you know the disadvantages and the side effects.

Benzodiazepines for sleep problems

Some benzodiazepines make you drowsy and relax the muscles. They can be prescribed as sleep medication in a short-acting or long-acting form. Through habituation the effect of the medication decreases over time. It is important not to use these medicines for longer than 2 weeks, because dependence can develop. The Dutch guideline on sleep problems for family doctors is more restrained: only once and for a short time, for short-term sleeplessness with a clear cause and a lot of distress.

Benzodiazepines for anxiety or restlessness

Benzodiazepines calm you down and flatten emotions. They work mainly for more chronic anxiety or tension. For panic complaints they have a limited place according to the Dutch national formulary, when antidepressants and cognitive behavioural therapy do not help enough. Here too habituation sets in over time and dependence can develop. The advice is to use benzodiazepines for anxiety for as short a time as possible. The Dutch formulary mentions a maximum of 2 to 4 weeks when they are added at the start of an antidepressant. Taper off and stop in good consultation with a doctor.

These are the benzodiazepines most often prescribed for anxiety and restlessness, by active substance. Brand names differ from country to country.

• Alprazolam
• Bromazepam
• Clobazam
• Clorazepate
• Diazepam
• Lorazepam
• Oxazepam

This list follows what is available in the Netherlands, where PsychosisNet comes from (November 2026). Chlordiazepoxide and prazepam are not in the current Dutch formulary. Ask your doctor or pharmacist what is available where you live.

Read more

• Types of benzodiazepines
• Side effects of benzodiazepines
• Benzodiazepines: questions and answers
• Tapering off and stopping benzodiazepines
• Sleep, sleeplessness and sleeping pills

Sources

1. Dutch College of General Practitioners. NHG guideline on sleep problems (in Dutch). richtlijnen.nhg.org
2. Farmacotherapeutisch Kompas, the Dutch national formulary. Group text on benzodiazepine agonists (in Dutch). farmacotherapeutischkompas.nl
3. Dutch Association for Psychiatry. Multidisciplinary guideline on anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders (2024), module on pharmacotherapy (in Dutch). Richtlijnendatabase
4. Baldwin DS, Aitchison K, Bateson A, et al. Benzodiazepines: risks and benefits. A reconsideration. J Psychopharmacol 2013;27:967-71. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881113503509
5. Soyka M. Treatment of benzodiazepine dependence. N Engl J Med 2017;376:1147-57. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1611832

Medically reviewed by Jim van Os, November 2026.

Prof. dr. Jim van Os, Chair Division Neuroscience, Utrecht University Medical Centre. Jim works at the interface of ‘hard’ brain science, health services research, art and subjective experiences of people with ‘lived experience’ in mental healthcare. 

Jim has been appearing on the Thomson-Reuter Web of Science list of ‘most influential scientific minds of our time’ since 2014. In 2014 he published his book ‘Beyond DSM-5‘, and in 2016 the book ‘Good Mental Health Care’. In 2026 he published 'Wat psychisch lijden is'.

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