Treatment for Benzodiazepine Dependence


Personalized Programs to Taper Off Benzodiazepines


My Doctor Medical Group (MDMG) offers a customized and compassionate treatment program to help our patients withdraw from benzodiazepines or “benzos” and successfully live life without them.

Paul Abramson MD and our clinical team have designed our medically-supervised approach integrating the most up-to-date pharmacologic approaches with psychotherapy, nutritional interventions, and other integrative approaches to achieve the best functional outcome.

If you call, we will discuss your situation with you in depth, and help you figure out if our practice is the right next step.

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We Provide Services in San Francsico

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The patients we treat with benzodiazepine tapers live locally in the San Francisco Bay Area, because appropriate treatment requires frequent in-person visits.

We are not able to work with people who reside outside of California at this time.


Are You or a Loved One Dependent on Benzodazepines?


Benzodiazepines are one of the most insidious and pervasive classes of prescription drugs currently available. These include:

  • Alprazolam (Xanax)
  • Clonazepam (Klonopin)
  • Diazepam (Valium)
  • Temazepam (Restoril)
  • Lorazepam (Ativan)
  • And others (see List of Benzodiazepines)

Mechanism Underlying Benzodiazepine Dependence


Many people come to be dependent on benzodiazpeines because a doctor prescribed and recommended them for anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD, or another condition. Alas, the use of benzodiazepines often creates a new and distinct problem of psychological and physiological dependence. The phenomenon of benzodiazepine dependency is often poorly communicated by the prescribing physician, who may not be aware of the harms caused by this class of medication.

Only a minority of people suffering from a problem with benzodiazepines got into the situation via recreational or compulsive use. Thus we use the terminology "benzodiazepine dependence" or "benzodiazepine use disorder" to reflect that many people are not using benzos in an "addictive" fashion, yet cannot easily stop. But we can treat actual addiction as well.

When people try to stop using or wean off benzodiazepines, they often suffer from a variety of difficulties which may include:

Sometimes the original prescriber will recommend a quick taper which causes severe symptoms. Attempts to self-taper the medication are also often unsuccessful. Many wonder if persistent symptoms are their original anxiety problem coming back, or if they have now created an entirely new problem. Often the original prescriber isn't much help with the tapering process.

We have deep expertise and many years of experience guiding our patients out of the benzodiazepine trap.

Integrative Benzodiazepine Treatment at Home


We offer a comprehensive and intensive outpatient treatment program based on thorough medical care and pharmacology. Our treatment plans can include a combination of

  • Medical diagnosis, testing and treatment
  • Customized psychopharmacology
  • Individual and group psychotherapy
  • Integrative and functional medicine
  • Medical nutrition therapy
  • Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine
  • Self tracking and individualized experiments

We can mobilize any necessary resources based on an individual’s unique needs after our comprehensive initial evaluation. We’re experts at keeping people independent and “outpatient” who may otherwise be facing going to a facility, inpatient rehab or other institutional setting.


Slow Benzo Tapers and the Ashton Method

Dr. Paul Abramson and the team at My Doctor Medical Group have extensive experience helping people slowly taper off benzodiazepines in the most efficient and compassionate manner. We are familiar with the Ashton Method and other frameworks for understanding benzo tapers, but have expanded them and take a more comprehensive approach in addition to a simple taper. To make this more effective and achieve the optimal balance of efficiency, comfort and safety, we offer adjunctive psychotherapy, brain retraining techniques and judicious use of particular medications to make each treatment plan custom to the individual.

Co-Occurring Addictions and Other Challenges


We are also experts at treating people suffering from dependency on multiple substances, such as opiates and benzodiazepines; benzodiazepines and stimulants; and even opiates, benzodiazepines and stimulants. Alcohol and cannabis use are also frequently co-occurring.

Often there may also be underlying mood disorders, chronic pain conditions, and cognitive or attention problems, that make tapering off benzodiazepines particularly difficult.

Individuals with co-occurring dependencies and underlying medical or psychological problems, are most likely to benefit from our multi-modal team treatment approach.

Need more information about our Benzodiazepine Treatment Program?


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Paul Abramson MD
Paul Abramson

Medical Director, MD

Kelly Yi, PhD
Kelly Yi

Psychologist, PhD

Orion Harris LMFT
Orion Harris

Psychotherapist, LMFT

To schedule an appointment or for more information:
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“I started with a small solo medical practice, a style of practicing medicine like my grandfather and great-grandfather did, focusing on the patient and applying great attention to detail. As we grow in size, we’re maintaining this commitment to quality, ethics and the dotor-patient relationship while using the best tools and technology from every discipline to achieve optimal results.” 

Dr. Paul Abramson, M.D.Medical Director, My Doctor Medical Group

“I started with a small solo medical practice, a style of practicing medicine like my grandfather and great-grandfather did, focusing on the patient and applying great attention to detail. As we grow in size, we’re maintaining this commitment to quality, ethics and the dotor-patient relationship while using the best tools and technology from every discipline to achieve optimal results.” 

Dr. Paul Abramson, M.D.Medical Director, My Doctor Medical Group