Psychiatric Medication in Recovery

Psychiatric Medications are an acceptable part of a good Recovery Program. That said, there are clear guidelines which while not written in stone should be well known to those in recovery or those prescribing to those in recovery should the need for medications arise.
Abstinence from all substances is clearly the aim in the first year of recovery. A study out of Hazelton showed that there was greater relapse in those who used antidepressants than those who did not. There were factors of what was controlled for in this study but it did give an indication of the potential hazard 'treating a drug' problem with a drug might be.
Any drug that has a "price" on the street has potential for abuse and should be seriously considered before use in early recovery. This specifically refers to all the benzodiazepine class and the the amphetamines and pain killers.
The benzodiazepine class includes valium, diazepam, alprazolam, ativan, clonazepam, and temazepams as examples. The amphetamine class includes the dexedrine and ritalins. The pain killers are the narcotic class of drugs codeine, tylenol#1,2and 3, oxycontins, demerols etc.
This doesn't however refer to antidepressants or antipsychotics which necessarily have a positive place in recovery. Medications such as the SSRI's, paxil, prozac, zoloft, celexa, cipralex and the more broad spectrum antidepressants, effexor, duloxetine, remeron, wellbutrin are often beneficial in recovery. Antipsychotics or tranquillizers such as seroquel, zyprexia, rispiridone, zeldox, loxapine, flupethixol are very beneficial and commonly used instead of the benzodiazepine class for anxiety.
At an addiction medicine conference this summer the presenter asked how many of the hundreds of addictionists present had prescribed benzodiazepines or amphetamines or pain killers and 90% admitted to this practice. The majority of those doctors there were in 12 step recovery programs themselves.
The presenter said that the key factor was the 'recovery' program and the duration of recovery before the introduction of medication.
Each case required individualization within the context of strong guidelines putting recovery in the forefront.