That's terrible advice. Benzos make your anxiety vastly worse after the first six weeks or so of use, and they're vastly more addictive than alcohol or just about any other drug, legal or illegal. When you try to get off them you can have physical withdrawal symptoms for up to a year, e.g. not being able to sleep, anxiety so severe you can't go outside, etc. Plus they significantly raise your risk of committing suicide, and they are one of the most common drugs seen in people brought to the E.R. for overdoses. Plus if you go to your doctor and ask for them you will likely be put on a watch list for drug abusers, meaning you will have extreme difficulty getting any prescription medications in the future even if you're in extreme pain.

Umm, it's one thing to have an existing substance problem to help soften life's blows; it's another to sit down and think to one's self. "Gosh, I'm facing so many problems. I should start taking substance X to deal with them!"

Especially considering the extent to which (so-called) anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs are being recognized for what they always have been -- a pseudo-scientific, market-driven fad (for the vast majority of cases which the companies making them have touted them as being useful for).

In any case he almost certainly doesn't need to go on pills -- and by definition, if he doesn't need them (and very, very few people do) he shouldn't start experimenting with them.

Please see also:

   http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1618725