Benzodiazepine receptor agonist deprescribing principles for long-term use and dependence: modified Delphi recommendations from a multi-disciplinary expert panel
Jaden Brandt, Nicole Lamberson, Jolene Bressi, Alexis Ritvo, Janice Curle, Josef Witt-Doerring, Marjorie DeWert, Steven Wright, Mark Horowitz · 2026
Read Benzodiazepine receptor agonist deprescribing principles for long-term use and dependence: modified Delphi recommendations from a multi-disciplinary expert panel by Jaden Brandt, Nicole Lamberson, Jolene Bressi, Alexis Ritvo, Janice Curle, Josef Witt-Doerring, Marjorie DeWert, Steven Wright, Mark Horowitz (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13254137.txt.
Description
Brandt and a broad panel set rules for safely stopping long-term benzodiazepine receptor agonists. Their 2026 paper gathers thirty-five doctors and patients through three rounds of secret voting. These calming drugs are widely tapered in older patients because they are hard to stop and carry safety risks.
Strong backing supported consent before tapering, flexible gradual plans, and cuts that shrink in step as doses fall. Panels also backed raising the dose again when withdrawal bites, plus peer support and talk therapy. Support was weaker on switching to a longer-acting drug first and on skipping other add-on drugs. The ten rules aim to help more patients stop safely while sparing them withdrawal harm.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Jaden Brandt, Nicole Lamberson, Jolene Bressi, Alexis Ritvo, Janice Curle, Josef Witt-Doerring, Marjorie DeWert, Steven Wright, Mark Horowitz |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 43 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |