What is Xanax?
Xanax belongs to a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, which are used to treat social or anxiety disorders, depression, panic attacks and other ailments [1]. The prescription drug is used in both liquid form and in tablets called immediate-release or XR (extended-release). Although the immediate release is taken three times per day, XR is taken once daily and specifically used as a daily treatment for panic disorder. Xanax is available generically under alternative names such as alprazolam and, in generics, alprazolam ER [2].
What Does Xanax Do?
Xanax slows down the brain and central nervous system (CNS), which helps your body to calm and relax, reducing anxiety [3]. It also binds with the CNS, providing an overall calming effect [1]. Xanax increases the level of a chemical messenger in your brain called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is vital for how your brain functions and sends signals to the rest of your body. An increase in GABA will help your body and brain calm and relax a person and assist with sleep [4].
Xanax, however, is a controlled substance that has an approved medical use and can be diverted for recreational use. Take only the doses and amounts your healthcare provider prescribes [2].
Benefits of Xanax
Xanax, also known as alprazolam, is a medication that offers several benefits for individuals dealing with certain mental health conditions.
Among its greatest advantages is its ability to treat anxiety disorders. Xanax decreases anxiety symptoms in patients with generalised anxiety disorder, where excessive or out-of-place anxiety and worry have persisted for six or more months [3].
Xanax is also helpful for those who suffer from panic disorders. Research has shown that Xanax was effective in decreasing the number of panic attacks suffered per week. When one is panicking, they experience recurrent, unexpected periods of intense fear, also defined as a panic attack [3].
Perhaps most obviously, Xanax can help to decrease the annoying symptoms of one’s anxiety – including jitteriness, racing thoughts and tense muscles – leaving users to feel calmer and more relaxed [5].
For those suffering from insomnia, many also find Xanax helpful in helping to fall asleep. It also is not uncommon for people to experience drowsiness or sleepiness after taking Xanax [5].
The effects of Xanax typically last between 2 and 4 hours, depending on the formulation of the drug (immediate-release, extended-release, or disintegrating tablets) [5].
What Are The Causes of Overthinking?
Firstly, overthinking can be instigated by one’s emotional state, sometimes due to separate mental issues. For example, when people are low on sleep or exert an excessive amount of energy, their tendency to overthink increases, promoting the possibility of mental illness [6].
Another reason is the way people react to their thoughts. This reaction can, at times, keep them locked in unbeneficial repetitive or rumination-like thinking that can be detrimental to mental health [6].
Prior experience can also lead to overthinking. If you have made (or watched) a disastrous decision in the past, you may well be inclined to overthink your future decisions because you don’t feel your judgment is reliable [7].
Overthinking is also associated with anxiety, which encourages rumination and can impair memory performance by diminishing specificity in autobiographical recall [8].
High overcontrol, including high-performance monitoring, inflexibility, perfectionism and sensitivity to errors, is also related to overthinking [9]. These traits are common in sufferers of anxiety disorders.
Lastly, overthinking can be a result of certain mental disorders. Various factors can influence these disorders, including genetics, life experiences, biological factors, and environmental factors [10].
Can Xanax Help With Overthinking?
Xanax, formally called alprazolam, is prescribed as a medication for generalised anxiety and panic disorders, and it is part of a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines. What this means is that Xanax increases the level of a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in your brain. GABA is a chemical messenger that helps your brain operate and sends signals from the brain to the rest of your body. By boosting the amount of GABA, your body calms down and relaxes – which helps people who overthink [4].
In clinical trials, this drug helps ease anxiety symptoms for people with either anxiety or anxiety along with depression and significantly reduces the number of panic attacks per week [3].
However, the use of Xanax as an antidepressant is controversial because, at higher doses or for long periods, it becomes highly addictive. It has been known to cause depression through its sedative effects and, in depressed patients, to make depression worse [3].
Conclusion
In conclusion, while Xanax can surely help to ameliorate overthinking by reducing the occurrence of anxiety and panic, it should remain carefully controlled. It can be highly addictive, leading to severe withdrawal symptoms, and it can potentially trigger depressive episodes.