Many thanks for all the replies Folks. It is someone very close to me who has been prescribed them.
The impression I get is that these are temporary treatment while a problem is resolved, and there is an adiction issue. The doctor who has prescribed them for my friend has let her take them for 18 months without any other treatment, and in the light of recent news that Doctors confess that many patients are prescribed drugs like this without any atempt to solve or treat the real problem has me very worried.