Alcohol and drug interactions with antianxiety medications

The benzodiazepine anxiolytics are effective drugs that offer significant safety advantages over the pharmacologic treatments of anxiety that preceded them. However, problems still remain with the benzodiazepines, including their potential interactions with a variety of central nervous system depressant medications. This article reviews drug-drug interactions for an effective new non-benzodiazepine anxiolytic, buspirone. To date, the data indicate that this drug does not potentiate the effects of measured amounts of alcohol and is less likely than diazepam to increase the number of side effects observed with a variety of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. When administered concomitantly on a short-term basis, buspirone does not seem to either potentiate or interfere with the effects of short- or long-acting benzodiazepine hypnotics.