"this is a qualified positive review for xanax.  i was suffering from mild depression and anxiety last winter and my doctor put me on wellbutrin.   that stuff takes 4-8 weeks to work and in the interim it can really up your anxiety level.  a week later i started 1mg xanax 1-2x/day and it took care of the anxiety immediately.  i continued using xanax for more restful sleep but after about 3 months i realized that short and long term memory was way down.   stopped xanax and replaced with gaba and this seems to be a far better solution.   the wellbutrin worked great, felt more energy the first week but did take 6-8 weeks to fully kick in.  i will now only take the xanax for rare, severe stress.  also check the  connection to alzheimers."