I take risperidone and my psychosis is in check. I take lithium and am not manic. More recently new to me has been anxiety. I am certain I have an anxiety disorder. I’m on Klonopin and buspar. The buspar can be over sedating but it works to some extent. I can take the Klonopin effectively on its own at 1mg 3x daily. But I am left so confused about the withdrawal literature. I don’t feel any of what they are talking about in fact Klonopin brings a normality to my condition. I guess they mean the broader spectrum when they talk about all the side effects. Maybe a bit of an insomnia but I can’t really tell where that’s coming from all I know is when I’m off it I’ll begin to to ruminate become restless worried. I reckon when my living situation becomes more stable less stressful the anxiety brought upon me will go away?
I dont know, everyone is different. But im on a fairly stable environment right now and Im not having much anxiety. I could even control an anxiety attack from happening the other day. I think we get better at it. Dont lose hope.
Glad youre psychosis free now 
I’m schizo-affective+anxiety. I take abilify and klonopin. Abilify 25 mg a day and klonopin 1 mg per day. I too believe klonopin brings me normalcy, doesn’t make me high. There may be a withdrawal if I tried to get off of it, but I don’t plan on getting off of it unless the doctor forces me to. The anxiety is worst while I’m driving. Especially on the highway or at night. It helps me sleep a little, doesn’t make me insomniac. If i didn’t drive i’d probably only need half a klonopin per day, but I do drive so I need .5 twice a day.
Benzos are highly addictive, you build up tolerance quickly and if you take them often you will get withdrawals (but in my experience it’s often hard to know what is withdrawals from drugs and what is illness). If there is any other way you can deal with the anxiety that would be preferable to taking benzos, but I’m sure your doctor has already told you this. Buspar did very little for me so I quit taking it after talking with my doctor. I was on too many meds and you can’t know for sure if your polypharmacy is safe. I was on 4 meds at one point, but now just 2 I take regularly.
And stability in your life can do wonders for anxiety. So can therapy, if you have not tried it you should consider it.
I have Schizoaffective, and a lot of Anxiety - I take 0.5 mg of Klonopin every day but tolerance has settled in.
I am searching for an alternative to a benzo to keep my Anxiety/Freak outs in check - maybe a mood stabilizer?
I dont know yet - Deep breathing seems to help me a bit.
I use this technique too. Seems to work well when the anxiety is not very paranoid in nature.
Deep breathing is a must. I opted not to go with klonopin because I’d probably end up abusing it based on past hx and it’s made me too balloon head when I did try it. Removing myself from the stressful, anxiety provoking situation for a few minutes helps. Like when I’m in clinical at the hospital I’ll go to the bathroom and take deep breaths with my eyes shut in silence, then go back out on the floor feeling calmer ready to work.
I have addictive behaviour. I quit street drugs and drinking at 21 and I don’t take benzodiazepines or narcotics. I hate the anxiety but I try to steer clear of addiction