<![CDATA[Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Benzodiazepine are frequently prescribed as adjunctive therapy to antipsychotics. However, theit clinical impact, in terms of both efficacy and safety has yet to comprehensively evaluated. This study aimed to explore the clinical impact of benzodiazepine use in schizophrenia patients, the domains of therapeutic efficacy and safety. This research use a literature review method by searching Google Scholar, Sciencedirect, MDPI, Semantic Scholar, and Pubmedm published between 2016-2026. Inclusion criteria include Indonesia or English language, original research addressing the clinical impact of benzodiazepine. Of 1.497 article identified, 13 met the criteria and were analyzed comprehensively. These 13 studies demonstrated that benzodiazepine particulary diazepam and lorazepam were effective as adjunctive therapy in managing acute agitation, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and extrapyramidal side effect. From a safety, however long term use exceeding six months was associated with cognitive and global function decline, increased risk of dependence, withdrawal syndrome, higher rehospitalization rates, and elevated mortality. Elderly patient exhibited greater vulnerability due to age related pharmacokinetics changes. These findings indicate that benzodiazepines are beneficial as short term adjunctive therapy during the acute phase of schizophrenia, while long term use significant clinical risk, underscoring the need for careful risk benefit evaluation and monitoring, particulary among elderly patients.]]>
