Long-term pharmacological treatment of generalized anxiety disorder.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders and has a poor prognosis, although it is often thought to be a minor complaint. This disorder has a chronic course of 5-15 years and longer. Long-term treatment with the commonly used benzodiazepines is controversial because of concerns over tolerance and dependence. We performed a thorough search of the literature for clinical trials of a duration of over 2 months conducted in patients with generalized anxiety disorder in order to identify any successful long-term treatment of this disorder. Only eight long-term reports of studies conducted in well-defined homogeneous groups of patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder were found with the methodology of these studies presenting a number of limiting factors. The results are inconclusive and no reference drug could be identified. In addition, an adequate evaluation of the long-term treatment of GAD has not yet been performed.
Mahe
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V
Service de Psychiatrie, Hôpital Général de Meaux, France.
Balogh
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A
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D012008:Recurrence
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D001569:Benzodiazepines