WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS: OUTBURSTS OF RAGE

This can happen as aside-effect and withdrawal reaction. When it happens whilst you are on tranquillizers it could be what is called the paradoxical effect. Instead of feeling calm and relaxed the user may feel disinhibited and full of rage. Mothers are often afraid they will hurt their children during these attacks. Losing your temper out of all proportion to the situation is distressing and very common. Help the people around you to understand this is temporary and not your real personality. Give them any literature you have about withdrawal, and take them to the support group where they will see other people with the same problem.

Your personality may have temporarily changed whilst you were on the pills. So often the cry is ‘I just want to be the person I used to be.’ Your old self is still there. It will come back. Some users have suppressed their emotions for so long that when the pills are taken away, they temporarily become aggressive and hard to live with. It is difficult for you and your family, but necessary for a while, to get you in touch with normal feelings again.