[The mnemonic effects of benzodiazepines]

The amnesiac effects of benzodiazepines were used soon after their introduction by anaesthetists for premedication. The aim was to crase any unpleasant memories of surgical intervention or its preparation. Unfortunately, these amnesiac effects are particularly undesirable in everyday living when the subject has to use his memory. The widespread usage of benzodiazepine anxiolytics for neurotic patients or depressives treated as out-patients, or treating sleeping problems, has led to a real problem of public health. Therefore, it is important to carry out trials with a strict methodology to understand the cognitive effects of these drugs, based on the application of the concepts and methods of the cognitive sciences (a field of rapid development in recent years). Whereas the amnesiac effects of benzodiazepines were ignored by physicians for years, their consequences are possibly overestimated at present, sometimes leading to a caricatural attitude in the usage of these products.