Shalini Ramachandran

Betsy and Shalini's investigation didn't actually start with antidepressants.

It began with another kind of psych medication entirely, when Shalini heard something that caught her attention.

Ativan is the brand name for lorazepam, a popular anxiety medication.

It's one of several in a class of drugs called benzodiazepines, and it's commonly prescribed to help people with sleep issues.

The executive told Shalini that after being on benzos for his insomnia, he actually started feeling extremely anxious.

And when he tried to get off the drugs, he experienced intense withdrawal symptoms.

The executive spent more than $100,000 on treatment for benzo withdrawal.

Eventually, he found help at another treatment center.

By the time he was telling all of this to Shalini, the executive said his recovery was complete.

But his story was about to send Shalini on a new reporting track and straight to Betsy's desk.

benzodiazepines work inside the brain to calm the nervous system.

Here's Betsy again.

I guess one thing I want to understand, according to medical guidelines, how long...

should patients be on benzos?

And typically, how long does someone stay on this drug, at least based on the conversations you had with people?

In other words, even though benzos aren't meant to be taken long-term, a lot of people do.

And as Betsy and Shalini talked to more patients, they began to hear about the problems that emerged from that extended use.

It was ironic.

The answer that some patients were getting to help with the side effects from the drugs they were taking was more drugs.

And just like with that executive that Shalini spoke to, some people who tried to get themselves off benzos were hit with even more problems, painful withdrawal symptoms, because their brains had become so used to the effects of the drugs.