Some of the most commonly administered medicines for stress are:

• Alprazolam (Xanax), which falls under the category of anti-anxiety medications classified as benzodiazepines
  
  
• Diazepam (Valium)
• Buspirone
• Extress (Homeopathic medicine)

Increasing incidence of mental stress has led to the discovery of tranquilizing drugs. When these drugs were administered in the laboratory to agitated mon­keys and other animals, they quietened and calmed down, became gentle and even playful. Insane patients in lunatic asylums became quiet and less disorderly, and it was discovered that these drugs had an overall soothing effect. Even cautious physicians reported the results as 'sensational and miraculous'. This led to their use in the case of people who were under stress, tension and worry, but were not admitted to hospitals. In some Western countries, tranquilizers are now sold in large numbers and are used by frantic, tempera­mental, over-worked and over-charged businessmen, officials, professors and even housewives. They are now increasingly used in India by the same group of people. The enthusiasts claim several qualities for them: they are harmless, non-sedative, non-habitforming and keep the mind clear.                                                                     ­

Over the years, however, a large number of reports have accumulated on the harmful effects of these drugs. In some cases, their continued use has led to disturba­nces in liver, jaundice and also damage to brain cells leading to tremors and affecting the movements of the hands. They have caused increased secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach which led to the for­mation of ulcers, nasal stuffiness, skin rash, obesity and other endocrinal disorders have also occurred. And strangely enough, in some cases, these drugs have caused just the reverse of expected effects, i.e., they caused maniac excitement, or deep depression and melancholy.

Over-reacting Patients
A certain amount of mental stress and anxiety is a part of our living. An examination, an interview, delivering a speech, even routine domestic and professi­onal work generate a certain amount of mental stress.

The personality and physical make-up of some people is such that they over-react to these situations and for more prolonged periods than is warranted. In fact, they even invent one or the other reason to remain perpetually under mental stress.

Physician's Dilemma
In such patients, when the doctor is too busy in his private clinic or out-patient department, he may prescri­be anyone of the innumerable tranquillizers. When he has time on his hands, he may listen to 'the patient sympathetically; and try to convince him out of his troubles.

Those of the physicians who wish to give their patients a quick proof of their learning, prescribe) tranquillizers. And, mind you, there are many patients who prefer this line of treatment, or even expect it. Such physicians, and subsequently their patients also feel convinced of the efficiency of these drugs, as they are indoctrinated day in and day out by the powerful propaganda pamphleteering of the interested pharma­ceutical companies.

In the opinion of most of the physicians, the use of tranquillizers in individuals with anxiety should be limited to a few doses, for not more than two or three days, in 'conditions which are transient, such as the reaction of grief following the death of an important person in the patient's life. The patient should not be brought totally under the influence of the tranquilli­zers as passing through and enduring the grief will prevent, in many instances, the development of long-­lasting depressive reactions. It is better to help him achieve an adaptation to bereavement or other source of stress with' a sympathetic ear and encouragement.

Long-term use of these drugs in cases of mental stress leads to the use of relatively large doses. The patient comes to depend upon chemical relief. If the drug it withdrawn, later on, serious symptoms are produced because of that.

At best, tranquillizers only lessen the emotional response to stress and anxiety by lessening the excita­bility of the hypothalamus, part of the brain, concerned with emotional behavior.

Tranquillizers, however, have been of great use in different types of mental disorders such as schizophre­nia, mania, delusion, hallucinations, etc. They are not the answer to stress, worry and anxiety. In these conditions, the answer lies in changing the habits that give rise to these disturbances.