Rule of Thumb on How Long To take Anti-Anxiety Medicine

The length of treatment varies greatly among individuals and depends considerably on the type of Anxiety Disorder being treated. Some conditions are situational and self-limiting, and—in such instances—treatment will be quite brief. Other conditions are long-standing, waxing and wan­ing in intensity, and require treatment that may be indefinite in length. Regardless of how chronic the disorder is, we feel that periodic efforts should be made to gradually reduce dose and, if possible, discontinue treatment with medica­tion. At times, even chronic conditions do not recur when medication is stopped. If they do, simply restarting the medicine should bring relief.