become established within such a time frame. However,
current studies have not taken into account the dependence
issue. For instance, one can wonder how withdrawal
symptoms are influencing beginning and long-term users
of psychotropic drugs. Fear of withdrawal symptoms
might explain long-term use of a certain percentage of elderly
users. In one previous study, 71% of middle-aged psychotropic
drug users wanted to stop consuming these
medications, but half of them feared stopping because of
withdrawal symptoms [47]. It seems desirable to increase
knowledge on this aspect of the phenomenon among
older people, given the well documented potential of benzodiazepines
to provoke dependence.