Psych meds have risks and side effects like all meds. I think you have to weigh the risks and benefits of the meds. I am not in the 60 percent you say have addiction problems so for me the benefit of xanax outweighs the risk. I have been taking it as prescribed since 1999 and no problems there. But other nonaddictive meds have been troublesome for me such as seroquel and lithium.

Individuals vary in their response to meds. So when they say X percent of people in a drug study had improvement in symptoms with med Y you have to try and see if you are one of those the med helps. If not, move onto another med.