"Like other medications, anti-anxiety medications may cause side effects. Some of these side effects and risks are serious. The most common side effects for benzodiazepines are drowsiness and dizziness. Other possible side effects include:
"Nausea
"Blurred vision
"Headache
"Confusion
"Tiredness
"Nightmares

"Anti-anxiety medications help reduce the symptoms of anxiety, such as panic attacks, or extreme fear and worry. The most common anti-anxiety medications are called benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines can treat generalized anxiety disorder. In the case of panic disorder or social phobia (social anxiety disorder), benzodiazepines are usually second-line treatments, behind SSRIs or other antidepressants.

"Benzodiazepines used to treat anxiety disorders include:
"Clonazepam
"Alprazolam
"Lorazepam

"The most common side effects listed by the FDA include:

"Nausea and vomiting
"Weight gain
"Diarrhea
"Sleepiness
"Sexual problems

"Call your doctor right away if you have any of the following symptoms, especially if they are new, worsening, or worry you(U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2011):

"Antidepressants are medications commonly used to treat depression. Antidepressants are also used for other health conditions, such as anxiety, pain and insomnia. Although antidepressants are not FDA-approved specifically to treat ADHD, antidepressants are sometimes used to treat ADHD in adults.

"The most popular types of antidepressants are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Examples of SSRIs include:

"Among the 2.6 million adults who had co‑occurring SMI [Serious Mental Illness] and an SUD [Substance Use Disorder] in the past year, 65.6 percent received either substance use treatment at a specialty facility or mental health care in the past year (Figure 31). Stated another way, about 1 in 3 adults with co‑occurring SMI and an SUD did not receive either type of care in the past year.

"An estimated 8.2 million adults aged 18 or older in 2016 had co‑occurring AMI [Any Mental Illness] and an SUD [Substance Use Disorder] in the past year, corresponding to 3.4 percent of all adults. In addition, about 2.6 million adults had SMI and an SUD in the past year, representing 1.1 percent of all adults.¹

"In this study, the highest levels of comorbidity (six or more comorbid conditions) among veterans were observed among treatment seekers. However, only those with comorbid DUD [Drug Use Disorders] were significantly more likely to seek treatment for PTSD once potentially confounding factors were accounted for. It is of concern that, in the present sample, 32% of veterans with PTSD who did not seek treatment had 6+ comorbid conditions.

"Overall, the prevalence of 6.3% for lifetime DSM-5 PTSD in U.S. veterans is lower than that reported in previous studies of era-specific (18.7% and 52%) (Dohrenwend et al., 2007; Ikin et al., 2010; Jakupcak et al., 2010) veteran cohorts but similar to a national sample of veterans (7.95%; Wisco et al., 2014) using previous diagnostic classifications. In part this may reflect the narrow definition used in the study. However, the lifetime prevalence of PTSD among veterans in this study was very similar to the prevalences of 6.4% and 7.8% reported for DSM-IV PTSD in the general U.S.

"In the 2015 reporting period, mental health diagnoses among individuals served who had co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders differed very little by substance use diagnosis. (Unlike mental health diagnoses, where up to three diagnoses are recorded per client record, each client record contains only one substance use diagnosis. See the final section of Appendix E for definitions of substance abuse codes.)

"• Bipolar disorders were the most frequently reported mental health diagnoses for individuals served who had co-occurring marijuana dependence (29 percent).

"For the 2015 reporting period, states reported a total of 720,987 individuals served aged 12 and older (14 percent of all individuals served) had co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.

"During this period, the data show that mental health diagnoses differed somewhat across categories for several variables, including gender, age group, race, ethnicity, living arrangements, employment and detailed “not in labor force,” service setting, and timing of admission. Mental health diagnoses were largely similar across SMI/SED status and level of functioning.