Treatments for benzodiazepine addiction generally begin with a slow medically supervised detoxification process, eventually weaning a person away from the effects of the drugs while attempting to decrease the severity of the symptoms of withdrawal.

Doctors will use a long acting slowly metabolized benzodiazepine like Valium® for outpatient detoxification. The dose reduction is 5-10% per week initially and can be slower as the dose is lowered. The process is slow and can take several weeks. It can be accomplished in an outpatient setting in motivated individuals with good support and no complicated medical disorders.

High dose benzodiazepine addiction often needs inpatient detoxification followed by outpatient continuing care.