I had a big fear of getting addicted to anti-anxiety meds. I'm a heavy smoker and I was psychologically addicted to anti-nauseants for a while, so I know I have an addictive personality. My aunt went through a horrendous addiction to sleeping pills and my brother spent a year in a rehab program for addiction to various drugs and alcohol. Their experiences scared me. I told my doctor about it before she prescribed me anything, so she gave me Clonazepam in combination with Celexa when I was trying to get over agoraphobia and panic attacks. She said it tends to be less addictive than some of the other benzodiazepines because it doesn't kick in as quickly. It doesn't give you that quick relief and feeling of calm that Ativan and Valium do. It's effective, but it's not a quick feel-good fix.

You should talk to your doctor about how you're feeling about diazepam. He/she might be able to prescribe something that will help with your symptoms but not be as addictive.

I took 0.5 mg Clonazepam once or twice per day for over 2 years. I never felt the need to increase my dose and when I got to the point where my panic attacks started to go away, I took it less frequently and went through no withdrawal. I hardly ever take it now. It worked very well for me and I didn't develop any psychological or physical addiction to it. Unlike some other drugs, I also found that I never felt the urge to take more of it. It remained effective at a low dose. I have taken Ativan for flying and I'm glad I don't have a regular prescription for it. It acts so quickly, I would probably have felt the urge to pop one frequently just because I knew it would make me feel instantly relaxed. I'm better off without access to something like that.

Good luck. I hope you find something that works for you. Worrying about addiction will just increase your anxiety. That's counter-productive. It's good that you're paying attention to it and wanting to do something about it. Keep us posted.