WHAT IS PROTRACTED WITHDRAWAL SYNDROME?
Protracted Withdrawal Syndrome (PWS) is not a phenomenon with a single, unitary definition. Many people who have no experience with benzodiazepine dependency, which includes almost half of the medical community, do not recognize any form of withdrawal syndrome as persisting beyond 30 days. Part of the problem is that the average physician sees very few people with serious benzodiazepine dependency, and when they do, the symptoms are often misinterpreted or misdiagnosed. Another problem is that statistics actually show that, indeed, about 70% of people with a benzodiazepine dependency are able to complete withdrawal in less than a month. However, it is important to understand that this statistic takes into account large numbers of people who have used a benzodiazepine for only a few weeks or months. For people who have used benzodiazepines for years, a 6 to 18 month course of withdrawal is actually the norm. For doctors who have not seen significant numbers of people in this circumstanc
