Authors’ Reply to Langford et al.: “Patient Perceptions of Opioids and Benzodiazepines and Attitudes Toward Deprescribing”

Excerpt

We appreciate the discussion raised by Langford and colleagues in their Letter to the Editor titled “Comment on: Patient Perceptions of Opioids and Benzodiazepines and Attitudes Toward Deprescribing” [1]. We agree with the authors that deprescribing of opioids and benzodiazepines is an important international issue and interventions that target known barriers and facilitators may be effective and transferable internationally. Additionally, we agree that education alone is insufficient to address behavioral change; however, we believe this to be a necessary first step. Patients’ lack of knowledge regarding their own usage of opioids, benzodiazepines, and other high-risk medications, as observed in our study [2], is likely to be detrimental to their acceptance of deprescribing as it precludes an awareness of the potential dangers of their own medications. …