Psychological performance in anxious patients treated with diazepam.

Area of Science:

• Psychopharmacology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Anxiety disorders are prevalent and often treated with anxiolytic medications.
• Understanding the differential effects of benzodiazepines and barbiturates on mood and cognition is crucial for effective treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the clinical and psychological effects of diazepam (a benzodiazepine) and amylobarbitone (a barbiturate) in anxious patients.
• To investigate the relationship between subjective anxiety levels and cognitive performance under drug treatment.

Main Methods:

• Flexible dosage treatment with diazepam, amylobarbitone, or placebo over several weeks.
• Assessment using psychiatrist's ratings, subjective patient reports, and objective psychological performance tasks.

Main Results:

• Diazepam significantly improved self-rated anxiety and insomnia compared to placebo.
• Amylobarbitone only improved self-rated insomnia.
• Cognitive performance was impaired by both drugs, with diazepam causing more significant deficits across more tasks than amylobarbitone.
• Patient-reported anxiety correlated with performance decrements, supporting an inverted U-shaped drive-performance curve.

Conclusions:

• Diazepam demonstrates broader efficacy in alleviating anxiety symptoms compared to amylobarbitone.
• Both anxiolytic drug classes can impair cognitive function, necessitating careful dosage and monitoring.
• The findings support the theoretical inverted U-shaped relationship between psychological drive (anxiety) and performance.