receding reliance

Heather Ashton talked about the fear people have, as they taper, about ending the taper and coping without the benzo, and she went on to say that often it's a lot easier than people envisage because of the newfound freedom people experience as their reliance on the drug recedes. 

That's true in my experience. We tend to project the conditions we are subject to into the future. When I imagined the last stages of my taper earlier, when I was still very reliant on Valium, it always seemed impossible. I know what it's like to need it and not be able to get it and I imagined that it would be like that, but it's not because I don't need it as much. It's not even an issue. How am I going to cope when I only have 1 mg a day [or whatever]? You cope just fine because you won't need it as much at that point. The key thing though, is to taper - to reduce gradually.