Society’s Love Affair with Anxiolytics: A Soothing Spell or a Troubling Trend?
Every night the gesture repeats: slide the drawer, take the pill , let it dissolve slowly under the tongue. It is not an exception, but a generalized tendency that has made anxiolytics a part of the daily medicinal routine of many people in Spain. A custom that reflects more than an insomnia epidemic: an entire society that drags emotional discomfort without sufficient tools to manage it.
A Booming Consumption. Names such as Lorazepam , Alprazolam , or Diazepam have ceased to belong exclusively to medical language. Today they are part of the usual vocabulary, a reflection of an increasingly widespread reality: the generalized use of anxiolytics to manage stress , insomnia , or daily anxiety.
According to data from the General Council of Psychology of Spain and the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), more than 42% of the population has consumed benzodiazepines in the last five years. Younger individuals are not exempt: 59% of young people between 25 and 29 years have taken anxiolytics recently. It is not merely a generational exception; it is a normalization of discomfort with a prescription.
Always a Base Diagnosis. Sometimes, the pill calms a timely discomfort , a difficult night, or a day that overflows—without any therapy or real follow-up. Dr. Luis Gimeno Feliu , a family doctor at the San Pablo Health Center in Zaragoza , explains in an interview that “there is a great rush in primary care due to a lack of personnel. This leads patients to opt for the easy resource. The problem is that benzodiazepines create dependence quickly. The ideal is to use them shortly and occasionally, but in Spain, they are consumed indiscriminately.”
A Blow of Reality. Continued use of these substances poses real risks. According to the same OCU survey, 65% of consumers have been taking them for more than six months, with nearly 40% admitting that they would like to quit. The issue, as indicated in the report, is that many patients lack adequate psychological support or real therapeutic alternatives within the public health system.
The Easy Recipe. In this context, we talked with clinical psychologist Alejandra de Pedro González , who identifies multiple causes for this trend: work stress, economic precariousness, housing crises, constant hyperconnectivity, and the ongoing effects of confinement have created a social scenario conducive to discomfort. “The health system often responds with a quick recipe. Psychotherapy is more expensive and less accessible, making the anxiolytic the simplest option—even if it’s not the most appropriate,” she warns.
The demand for psychological care has increased, yet the public system struggles to meet it. “For many primary care doctors, the immediate and cheapest solution is to prescribe a drug—not out of desire, but due to insufficient means to provide quality psychotherapy from the first level of care,” she explains.
An Anxious Generation. For De Pedro, it is not an exaggeration to label this as an “anxious generation.” Current society encourages immediacy, extreme self-scrutiny, and poor tolerance to discomfort. “We see young people struggling to manage frustration, feeling overwhelmed by daily demands, and pathologizing symptoms that are entirely normal,” she states.
Clinical psychologist Fernando Azor reinforces this concern, asserting, “The problem is that many people haven’t learned to tolerate the physical sensations of anxiety. Taking medication offers relief but reinforces the notion that these sensations are intolerable.”
Additionally, the overwhelming availability of misinformation through the internet and social media exacerbates the issue. “Many patients arrive at consultations with self-diagnoses in hand and expectations for instant solutions. They become frustrated when immediate relief is out of reach and live with the alert system constantly activated, seeking a pill to silence the alarm,” says De Pedro.
The Social Face of the Problem. The report from Infocop adds a structural dimension to this phenomenon: anxiolytic consumption is particularly prevalent among women, the elderly, the unemployed, or those with lower incomes. Women consume anxiolytics between 1.5 and 3 times more than men, with 19% of women having at least one package at home. Additionally, 13.8% of women suffer from anxiety disorders compared to 7.4% of men. The pattern is clear: greater social vulnerability correlates with higher rates of psychopharmaceutical consumption.
Dr. Gimeno insists, “Much of the consumption of anxiolytics results from social problems. They should be handled with social interventions, not just pharmacological solutions or even psychotherapy.”
More Awareness, but Also More Confusion. Despite improvements in mental health visibility thanks to social media, misinformation and the tendency to convert any emotional discomfort into a medical condition worry professionals. “We see individuals arriving at consultations armed with poorly applied techniques, unrealistic expectations, and accumulated frustration,” adds De Pedro.
The health model remains predominantly focused on symptom alleviation rather than addressing the root causes of suffering. “Our system fails to help individuals understand what underlies their anxiety. Quick fixes are sought, but the discomfort persists,” she states.
The Stigma is Still Present. Despite progress in public awareness, stigma surrounds mental health. “Some patients are ashamed to admit they take pills; others feel embarrassed about visiting a psychologist. This varies significantly by environment and generation,” notes the consulted psychologist. What is evident is that emotional suffering is more prevalent than ever, and the response must go beyond pharmacological measures.
Solution or Patch? The debate continues. For many patients, anxiolytics have served as lifelines. However, the risk lies in them becoming a silent habit. “Without therapeutic intervention, issues will reemerge,” concludes Alejandra de Pedro. As consumption rates rise, mental health professionals concur: merely addressing symptoms isn’t sufficient. Without investment in quality psychological care, and without educating the public to understand their discomfort, anxiety will continue to be treated with medications that provide no genuine solutions.
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