Dovremmo continuare a utilizzare le benzodiazepine nella pratica clinica?

The discovery of benzodiazepines has repre- sented a milestone in the history of pharmacological treat- ments and in relation to the management of anxiety, sleep and other psychiatric disorders. After several decades, these agents still represent one of the largest and most widely prescribed groups of medications, not only in the psychiatric clinical practice, but also in the whole medical eld. Over the last decade, however, multiple concerns have been raised on the risks related to the prescription of benzodiazepines, for their addictive potential and for cognitive side-e ects. Therefore, benzodiazepines are to- day considered as a double-edge sword, which should be carefully handled and preferentially prescribed by special- ists (or at least under their supervision), after an adequate training. Unfortunately, this is not the case in many situ- ations, and the need to improve training on benzodiaze- pines management has been recently emphasized.