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Benzodiazepines in Emotional Disorders

1983; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/02791072.1983.10472122

2159-9777

Karl Rickels,

Schizophrenia research and treatment

The efficacy of the benzodiazepines in the symptomatic treatment of non-psychotic anxiety has been well established. Hundreds of studies, many of them conducted under stringent double-blind conditions, have consistently shown that the benzodiazepines produce significantly more improvement than placebo in both somatic and emotional manifestations of anxiety (Lader, 1980; Rickels, 1978; Greenblatt & Shader 1974). In fact, comparing the clinical efficacy of the benzodiazepines with that of the barbiturates, meprobamate and placebo, one finds again and again the same rank order of efficacy, with benzodiazepines producing the most and placebo the least amount of improvement (Rickels, 1978; Cohen et al., 1976; Lader, Bond & James, 1974). Yet, by far, not every patient improves with benzodiazepines, and moderate to marked improvement is obtained only in about 65 to 75 percent of benzodiazepine-treated patients. In addition, as this author’s research group demonstrated years ago, even patients reporting moderate improvement, representing about 40 percent of patients treated with benzodiazepines, by far do not reach “normative” anxiety levels (Rickels, 1978). An excellent review of the current status of benzodiazepines was recently provided by Greenblatt, Shader & Abernethy (1983).