My experience of benzodiazepines is limited compared to the others so I am not sure how general it is.

I spent a bit over a month as a patient in a private psychiatric hospital, taking the first steps in dealing with my alcohol abuse and clinical depression. Initially I was a bit agitated so one of the psychiatric nurses suggested Valium, taken once a day, in front of her (same procedure as for any other prescription drug) - they were rightly very strict about this. It worked for me so after a while I told her that I didn't need it any more - she just smiled and agreed.

Another patient was less fortunate. From what he said in our regular morning check-in session, run by a clinical psychologist, he was severely addicted to alcohol and Xanax. From cryptic comments from the clinical psychologist (their medical ethics were impeccable), he was monitored 24/7 including being on suicide watch.

When I left he was still there but I think had shown some signs of improvement.