Recent advances in the psychopharmacological treatment of anxiety disorders

The authors review recent progress in the pharmacological treatment of anxiety disorders. Most research within the last five years has focused on panic disorder; the findings include support for the usefulness of imipramine and clomipramine and probably other agents; evidence that the benzodiazepines alprazolam, diazepam, lorazepam, and clonazepam are approximately equally effective as antipanic agents; and high variability in relapse rates after discontinuation of drug treatment. Further work is required to determine whether buspirone and other forthcoming serotonin agonist drugs have a role in treating panic disorder and other anxiety disorders. For generalized anxiety disorder, scientific studies do not support the effectiveness of beta blocker; tricyclics may be potentially useful. Psychopharmacological treatments for social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder are also reviewed.