Clinical and physiological assessment of chlorazepate, diazepam and placebo in anxious neurotics

A 28-day double-blind assessment of chlorazepate dipotassium, diazepam and placebo was done on 30 outpatient neurotics with a primary symptom of anxiety. Acute, sub-acute and more chronic effects of the drug were assessed after 3 hours, 14 days and 28 days of drug administration. A battery of psychiatric ratings as well as physiological and psychophysiological assessments were done at each period. The psychometric assessments showed a trend for diazepam to be the most anxiolytic of the three drugs, followed by chlorazepate and then placebo. These measurements did not reach uniform statistically significant differences. Psychological measurements demonstrated the same trends, but some of these reached statistically significant levels. These parameters also indicate a slightly different mode of action of the two drugs at equimolecular doses. Diazepam would depress baseline and stimulation arousal, whereas chlorazepate would decrease baseline CNS arousal, but facilitate CNS response upon stimulation.