High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Benzodiazepine dependence or benzodiazepine addiction is a condition during which a person is dependent on benzodiazepine drugs. Dependence can be either a psychological dependence, physical dependence, or a combination of the two. Physical dependence occurs when a person becomes tolerant to benzodiazepines and, as a result of both physiological tolerance and withdrawal symptoms, they develop a physical dependence, which can manifest itself upon dosage reduction or cessation as the benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. Addiction, or what it is sometimes referred to as psychological dependence, includes people misusing and/or craving the drug not to relieve withdrawal symptoms but to experience its euphoric and/or intoxicating effects. Addiction to benzodiazepines can also include people who take them normally as prescribed but find themselves unable to stop taking benzodiazepines despite any harmful effects. It is important to distinguish between addiction and drug abuse of benzodiazepines and normal physical dependence on benzodiazepines. Physical dependence typically occurs from long-term prescribed use, but drug abuse and/or behavioral addiction does not typically occur in prescribed users. The increased GABAA inhibition caused by benzodiazepines is counteracted by the body`s development of tolerance to the drug`s effects; the development of tolerance occurs as a result of neuroadaptations, which result in decreased GABA inhibition and increased excitability of the glutamate system; these adaptations occur as a result of the body trying to overcome the central nervous system depressant effects of the drug to restore homeostasis. When benzodiazepines are stopped, these neuroadaptations are "unmasked" leading to hyper-excitability of the nervous system and the appearance of withdrawal symptoms.