Episode Details

Do you feel that?

That doubt and dread and worry?

That’s anxiety - and lucky for you, there’s a pill for that.

It’s called Xanax. And it works. Really well. And really fast.

Prescribed for panic attacks and anxiety, one dose of Xanax usually kicks in within 15 or 30 minutes. Just like that, a sense of calm sets in, and your concerns fall away. It’s not a high, more like the opposite. You feel relaxed, your brain stops racing. It does the trick.

Which is why Xanax is also super dangerous. Because of how well it works, and the way it works, Xanax is highly addictive. It brings such relief that one pill every once in a while turns into a little nibble every night. It tricks people into thinking that their concerns and worries can disappear with just one dose. Which is why Xanax is among the most counterfeited and abused drugs in the world right now.

Writing this episode, I started thinking that Xanax was a perfectly fine drug that is sometimes a problem. But as I dug in, I realized that Xanax, like all benzodiazepines, is a trickster. It promises to be an easy, even fun way to push our anxiety aside. But as much as it brings relief, it also brings consequences - which can turn deadly.

In this episode of Drug Story, we look at the idea of anxiety as a disease - a common human problem that can become, for some, a treatable condition. And we consider what “treatment” means, for good and for bad.

Sources for this episode

[1] Quitting Xanax: One Writer's Story (2024) Vogue Magazine: Martha McPhee details her seventeen-year dependence on Xanax, originally prescribed for panic attacks.

[2] Fear and fitness: An evolutionary analysis of anxiety disorders (1994) Ethology and Sociobiology: Anxiety evolved as a defense mechanism with subtypes adapted to specific threats; anxiety disorders arise from dysregulated defenses.

[3] A history of anxiety: from Hippocrates to DSM (2022) Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience: Traces the understanding and classification of anxiety from ancient Greek and Roman philosophy to the DSM, noting Greco-Roman recognition of anxiety as a medical condition and early cognitive-behavioral approaches.

[4] Should You Be Upset? Cicero on the Desirability of Emotion (2022) Antigone Journal: Examines Cicero’s views on whether suppressing or embracing emotions is desirable.

[5] Cicero and the state-trait theory of anxiety: Another case of delayed recognition (1983) American Psychologist: H.J. Eysenck argues Cicero anticipated the modern distinction between anxious temperament and temporary anxious states.

[6] The Effects of Stoic Training and Adaptive Working Memory Training on Emotional Vulnerability in High Worriers (2021) Cognitive Therapy and Research: Results from a study show that practicing Stoicism significantly reduces rumination and boosts self-efficacy.

[7] Seneca (2024) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman philosopher who shaped stoicism and contributed to the concept of mindfulness and use of the present to manage emotions. 

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