How do I know if I am addicted to xanax or if I should stop taking it?

Think about other things when you're going to bed, listen to soft Classical music before bedtime, do your best to get to sleep without them. When you're tired enough, you'll eventually fall asleep. The first night is the hardest. After that, it will get easier little by little, and you'll break your habit of them.

Keep in mind that addiction is defined as psychological, and is not the physical dependency on the drug, but the psychological dependency. You take it because you want it, not because you need it. That is the "experts" definition of addiction. In your case, it is not addiction, it is the physical dependency you need to worry about. Physical dependency means you have to take it to sleep, and to keep from experiencing anxiety and withdrawals. This physical dependency starts to occur in just days, and becomes noticable after a week or so, and just keeps building the longer you take xanax. The more you take it, the stronger this dependency gets, until you get to the point where you have to take it or you could have a seizure or suffer severe withdrawals. The seizure point of dependency can occur in just a month if you take a lot, or may never happen - it is different for everyone. What is for sure is that the longer you take it, the worse the physical dependency gets. If you can't sleep without it, then you have become physically dependent on it. I suppose you could call that addicted, as that is what most of us mean when we use the term addicted. The problem with taking xanax like you did is that it does not cure or fix the anxiety, but in the end makes it worse. Your doctor did not help you by giving you xanax - you may very well be over the college stress phase, but now your brain has been conditioned to have xanax in it at bedtime. Without it, you probably won't sleep much until your brain recovers. This can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks or so. Call your doctor and tell him what is going on. If he is smart, he will replace the xanax with Valium and have you slowly taper off of it, instead of just quitting abruptly. That is how you usually quit xanax - switch to valium, slowly taper off of it. That way you don't suffer the severe insomnia that can be caused by abruptly quitting.