March 1, 2023 – After two years of work and many delays, I am proud to announce the launch of the new Easing Anxiety Website. There are many advancements and workflow improvements with this new site. I've listed some of the advancements and benefits below. Here are some benefits of the new site: More Frequent, Timely Content — The biggest gain from the new site is that it will simplify my life. By doing this, I can focus more on content. Improved Processing Speed — The new s

I was recently invited to be a guest on the Powers Benzo Coaching Podcast with David Powers, and it was a wonderful experience. We recorded a lively, 2-hour conversation covering a wide variety of topics including benzo dependence and withdrawal, BIND, symptoms and symptom management, the science behind benzos, anxiety, the limbic system, psychology, music, film, and so much more. We even talked about his “rebuttal” video, which is how this all came to be (see below). He just

February 6, 2023 – The second paper on the Benzodiazepine Survey of 2018-2019 was published today in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology titled: “Enduring neurological sequelae of benzodiazepine use: and Internet survey.” This is the second in a series of three papers our team has been working on for almost four years now. The first paper was published on April 25, 2022 and was titled “Experiences with benzodiazepine use, tapering, and discontinuation: an Internet surv

The Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention will hold its annual meeting virtually on October 27th and 28th, 2022. One of the break-out sessions on Thursday (10/27) morning will be hosted by the Benzodiazepine Action Work Group (BAWG), a sub-group of the Consortium. In this session, BAWG Co-Chairs Dr. Alexis Ritvo and D E Foster will define BIND and its symptomatology in addition to the research behind it. They will also present recent successes from the wo

June 8, 2022 — I have been privileged to be involved with two separate teams publishing research on benzodiazepines in 2022. The first of these was published in April of this year and was the first of a series of papers on the benzodiazepine survey of 2018-2019. That paper was titled: “Experiences with benzodiazepine use, tapering, and discontinuation: an Internet survey.” The second team was based in Ireland and was focused on developing guidance for the reduction of benzod

May 12, 2022 – Exciting News! The first paper from the Benzodiazepine Survey of 2018-2019 was the subject of an article today in Psychology Today. Author Christopher Lane, Ph.D. reviewed and summarized many of the significant findings in the research, in addition to blending in some of the early findings from Hollister and Lader. The first paper on the survey was published on April 25, 2022, titled: “Experiences with benzodiazepine use, tapering, and discontinuation: an Inte

April 26, 2022 – The first paper on the Benzodiazepine Survey of 2018-2019 was just published on April 25, 2022, titled: “Experiences with benzodiazepine use, tapering, and discontinuation: an Internet survey.” Our team has been working on this research for three years now, and finally, we have the first paper published in the journal “Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology.” And this is just the first, many more are slated to follow. I was grateful and humbled to be par

April 22, 2021 – An podcast interview with D Foster, host of The Benzo Free Podcast, is now available online. Brian Nigro of the podcast Mental Health Film Comment recorded the interview in February 2021. The episode is titled, “The Benzodiazepine Medical Disaster” after the 2016 film by Shane Kenny which featured Heather Ashton and Malcolm Lader. The film was only one of several topics discussed in the hour-long interview. You can listen to the interview on the podcast’s web

The Benzodiazepine Action Work Group of the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention hosts a screening of Medicating Normal followed by a post-screening panel discussion/Q&A. The mission of the Benzodiazepine Action Work Group is to increase benzodiazepine safety through education, patient support, and informed prescribing and deprescribing practices. The group joined the Consortium in November 2020. Event Sponsors: Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug