title: [Usefulness of antidepressants in anxiety disorders].
abstract: This article deals with four anxiety disorders particularly frequent in the population as well as in general practice: panic disorder, specific phobias, social phobia and generalized anxiety. After a brief description of their clinical characteristics and prevalence, it provides the general principles of treatment and mainly the specific role of antidepressants. Finally, for each disorder, a treatment algorithm based on available guidelines is proposed. Schematically, antidepressants and particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors exhibit a usefulness assessed as important in panic disorder, moderate in generalized anxiety, weak in social phobia and absent in specific phobias.
authors.affiliation: Service de psychiatrie et de psychologie médicale, CHU SartTilman, B-4000 Lieège. marc.ansseau@chu.ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ansseau
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents