Background: Evidence about possibilities to help older persons to withdraw the long-term use of benzodiazepines (BZD) is scarce.  Effective and practicable methods are needed.

Objective: The study aimed to assess the persistence of one-time counselling by a geriatrician to reduce psychotropic drugs, especially BZD and related drugs (RD).

Design: A prospective randomised controlled trial with a 12-month follow-up was conducted.

Subjects: 591 community-dwelling people in Finland aged 65 or older participated in the study.

Methods: Instructions to withdraw, reduce or change psychotropic drugs were given to the intervention group. A 1-hour lecture about these drugs and their adverse effects was given later on. No changes in the drug therapy were suggested for the controls.

Results: The number of regular users of BZD and RD decreased by 35% (12/34) (odds ratios (OR) = 0.61; 95% CI, 0.44–0.86) in the intervention group while it increased by 4% (2/46) (OR = 1.05; 95% CI, 0.81–1.36) in the controls (P = 0.012).  No significant changes in the users of other types of psychotropics were found.

Conclusion: One-time counselling of psychotropics and other fall-risk-increasing drugs by a geriatrician followed with a 1-hour lecture about adverse effects of these drugs had positive effects in decreasing the number of regular users of BZD and RD, and these effects persisted for the total 12-month intervention period.