The thing to be careful with regarding Ativan or any benzodiazepine is the withdrawal. If you take it consistently for long enough, it can have withdrawal effects if you suddenly discontinue it. So just make sure, whatever your decision is, whether or not to take it, that if you discontinue it - do it gradually. There's a whole website devoted to this about how to get off of benzos if you are interested. I currently take benzos as prescribed as well and I don't have any interest in getting off of them for the moment because they are working and I don't experience signifcant side effects from them.