Relationsheep between anxiolytic dependence, anxiety and depression among students from Gabes Institute of Nursing Sciences

Introduction Access to university marks a crucial stage in the lives of young adults. This transition can generate high levels of stress and anxiety, influencing their mental and emotional well-being. To overcome these challenges, some students may resort to the increasingly common use of psychotropic drugs, particularly anxiolytics, to ease their distress. Objectives To determine the relationship between anxiolytic dependence, anxiety and depression in students. Methods This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study conducted on Gabes institute of nursing sciences, for a period of two months(March to May 2024). We used: - Benzodiazepine Attachment Cognitive Scale (BACS) : to study BZD dependence. A score above 6 indicates dependance to BZD. - Hospital and anxiety depression scale (HAD): to assess the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Seven questions relate to anxiety (total A) and seven to depression (total D), giving two scores (maximum score for each = 21). Results The sample comprised 33 students. The mean age of our population was 21.30 ±1.51 years and the sex ratio (M/F) was 0.65. The mean score of the ECAB scale was 6.93, with extremes of [3-10]. According to our results, dependence on BZDs was clearly predominant, found in 28 students (84.8%). According to the HAD scale, 82% of students showed anxiety symptoms and 24.2% were depressed. According to our study, we found that BZD dependence in students was strongly correlated with anxiety with p=0.007. Similarly, we found that those dependent on BZDs were more likely to develop depressive symptoms compared with non-dependents, with a significant difference (p=0.04). Conclusions Our findings suggest that the greater the dependence on anxiolytics, the greater the risk of developing anxiety and depressive symptoms. Disclosure of Interest None Declared