Alprazolam
chemical compound: potent, short-acting anxiolytic of the benzodiazepine class; a minor tranquilizer
Alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax among others, is a fast-acting, potent tranquilizer of moderate duration within the triazolobenzodiazepine group of chemicals called benzodiazepines. Alprazolam is most commonly prescribed in the management of anxiety disorders, especially panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Other uses include the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea, together with other treatments. Alprazolam is generally taken orally.
Common side effects include sleepiness, depression, suppressed emotions, mild to severe decreases in motor skills, hiccups, dulling or declining of cognition, decreased alertness, dry mouth (mildly), decreased heart rate, impairment of judgment (usually in higher than therapeutic doses), and decreased memory formation, depending on dosage. Some of the sedation and drowsiness may improve within a few days.
Benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms may occur if use is suddenly decreased.
Alprazolam was developed by Jackson Hester Jr. at the Upjohn Company and patented in 1971 and approved for medical use in the United States in 1981. Alprazolam is a Schedule IV controlled substance and is a common drug of abuse.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Alprazolam” as chemical compound: potent, short-acting anxiolytic of the benzodiazepine class; a minor tranquilizer. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as chemical compound: potent, short-acting anxiolytic of the benzodiazepine class; a minor tranquilizer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q319877. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1971 and 1981.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alprazolam” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.