My new therapist lowered my Xanax by half and its not working

Question

Hi There, Okay I have been diagnosed with major depression and severe anxiety. I have had the same therapist for 6 years. My medications are trazodone 100mg at bedtime, Celexa 40mg in am, xanax 1mg 3 times a day. This has been working for years. Right now I'm going thru a tramatic time medically in my life. Last month my therapist left the practice to start her own. She is not up and running yet. So I'm seeing another therapist from facility. Right off without knowing me or what I'm going thru. She lowered my dosage of xanax by half. It's not working, I've been very close to going to the hospital. HELP

Dr. Stuart Shipko · Accepted Answer

What you describe is all too common. In the process of marketing the SSRIs, such as Paxil and Prozac, the drug companies did their best to vilify the competition - Xanax.- to try to take a bite out of the Xanax market. The dangers of the drug have been exaggerated. Many clinicians have a knee jerk type reflex and feel this strong urge to stop a patient's Xanax whenever they see it has been prescribed. Cutting the dosage is half is extreme and I am not surprised at your discomfort. If you are unable to reason with your prescribing doctor, you might want to contact your long term provider and ask for some help in reinstating your usual dosage.

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