I’ve had bad anxiety for 4 years. My therapist saw my have a panic attack and said I needed to ask my doctor about getting a benzo. My doctor said no and that my therapist shouldn’t be recommending medication as he wasn’t a doctor. 

He put me on propanonol instead, which works great for physical anxiety but even if I take it I still have a lot of mental anxiety and distress. I’m going to a psychiatrist soon and I want to ask about getting prescribed a benzodiazepine. I know the risks, I know they’re addictive, I know they aren’t made for frequent use. But sometimes nothing I do makes the panic or anxiety go away and I just need something to “turn it off.”

How do I go about asking for it without sounding like a desperate addict who wants to get high?