Wow she was very lucky. Sudden cessation of diazepam can be fatal. I went through diazapam withdrawal after being on it for only one month. It sucked and the doctor was quite surprised I had developed that addiction so quickly. It is supposed to take longer than that. I do believe there is a biological predisposition towards addiction by the way. Not necessarily in the sense of becoming an "addict" but that some peoples physiology makes becoming addicted easier than it does for others. Like the example of the woman who took morphine for over 10 years. Most people would have become physically addicted and suffered from withdrawal but she didn't. Most people can take diazapam for 6 weeks before they have to worry about addiction but it only took 4 in my case.
> As well, I have to take exception to someone who mentioned, among some
> other good and true points, that perhaps opioid addiction was all
> psychological and that placebo would clear all withdrawal symptoms. Not
> so.... The physical addiction is quite real and withdrawal is quite
> horrid to undergo.
> This sounds very much like a prohibition-funded
> study, one designed to forestall any empathy others might deign to give
> "those damned junkies"
>
> Mycos
It is true that studies have shown that some addicts can avoid withdrawal with placebo. That does not mean however that all addicts can achieve the same results. IIRC part of what had in the past skewed the results to make placebos appear more effacacious than they really were was that the dropout rate was high. When subjects going through withdrawal dropped out of voluntary studies they made the placebo look more effective than it was for the remainder.
John Thornton