Benzodiazepines in anxiety disorders: Reassessment of usefulness and safety

Abstract

Importance: Benzodiazepines (BZs) are still widely prescribed for the treatment of anxiety disorders despite many publications in the literature which favour antidepressants (ADs) instead. What is the evidence?

Observations: Treatment guidelines favour ADs over BZs for treatment of anxiety disorders without any head-to-head comparison of both drug groups with placebo. BZs are claimed to cause less efficacy and more safety issues than ADs, yet ADs also cause disturbing adverse events and, similar to BZs, discontinuation symptoms. Until evidence-based data become available, a look at two 6-month generalized anxiety disorder trials conducted by the same research group, one with a BZ and the other with an AD, might provide some guidance for the clinician. Most improvement with a BZ was obtained by 4 weeks, suggesting that BZ treatment longer than 4 weeks should only be offered to patients maximally improved at 4 weeks. In contrast, ADs may have to be prescribed for 3–6 months to obtain maximal benefits.

Conclusion: Results of a controlled trial as proposed will go a long way in providing clinicians missing information to guide them in the appropriate use of both BZs and ADs in anxiety disorders.

Keywords:

• Anxiety disorders
• benzodiazepines
• antidepressants
• controlled clinical trials