Pharmacotherapy of panic disorder: differential efficacy from a clinical viewpoint.
Antidepressants and high-potency benzodiazepines have been used to treat patients with panic disorder. This review considers the efficacy of these treatments in reducing panic attack frequency and in addition considers their ability to attenuate global anxiety, depressive symptomatology, agoraphobic avoidance, and overall impairment. An extensive database is available for the tricyclic antidepressants imipramine and clomipramine, the serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor paroxetine, and the benzodiazepine alprazolam. The antidepressants are more effective than the benzodiazepines in reducing associated depressive symptomatology and are at least as effective for improving anxiety, agoraphobia, and overall impairment.
Psychiatric University Clinic, Academic Hospital Groningen, The Netherlands.
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JA
den Boer
D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018849:Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010919:Placebos; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D001569:Benzodiazepines; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors; D010919:Placebos; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors