I am a mental health professional with IBD/UC and anxiety disorder. Much research shows that they occur together in 90% of cases. The benzos help calm everything in the system down since our bodies/minds are over-reactive. (not a judgement, its just how we work). My IBD seems a bit better and inflammation rates are about
half when I take xanax. Unfortunately, I am still on a boatload of other stuff and trying to do other calming things. Hope that helps.
I am also on the ulcerative colitis forum on healingwell. Much of the info from both of these sites is helpful to the other, so you may want to take a quick view.