Toru had always been anxious as a child, but the problem worsened when he was 19 and attending college in Tokyo, Japan. A social science major, he would feel his heart race every time he had to present in front of his class. A psychiatrist prescribed clonazepam, an anti-anxiety medication that belongs to a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines (which also includes Valium and Xanax).<\/p>\n
Initially, Toru felt calmer, even when he had to speak in public. Soon, though, the drugs\u2019 potency began to wane and, after about a year, Toru quit taking them. His anxiety escalated. He stopped sleeping and began experiencing panic attacks, one so severe that he called an ambulance to take him to the emergency room. So Toru did the logical thing: he went back on the drugs.<\/p>\n
Despite his struggles, Toru completed his degree and began working in information technology. But he had developed a temper and struggled to hold down a job. At a particularly low point, he destroyed a computer and got fired. After that incident, Toru stopped looking for work. Periodically, he would try to go off the meds again, but the withdrawal symptoms always proved too severe.<\/p>\n
Toru\u2019s mother, Machiko, was the first to realise just how bad things had become for her son. He was never angry as a child, she tells me emphatically \u2013 the drugs changed him.<\/p>\n