Antianxiety drugs types

Although the use of barbiturates and miscellaneous sedatives and hypnotics for sedation has largely been replaced by the antianxiety drugs (see Chap. 30), they occasionally may be used to provide sedation before certain types of procedures such as cardiac catheterization or the administration of a local or general anesthesia Sedative doses usually given during daytime hours, may be used to treat anxiety and apprehension. Fhtients with chronic disease may require sedation, not only to reduce anxiety, but also as an adjunct in the treatment of their disease... 

In summary, buspirone is an effective generalized anxiety treatment that differs from conventional antianxiety drugs in speed of symptom reduction and types of symptoms affected. Although buspirone might seem to be the drug of choice for treatment of chronic anxiety, it has not displaced the use of benzodiazepines in the treatment of anxiety, perhaps because of its side-effect profile [dizziness, sedation, nausea], slow onset of action, and the opinion of some clinicians that its anxiolytic efficacy is less robust than that of benzodiazepines. Buspirone is accepted as an anxiolytic treatment much more widely in the United States than in most other countries [Kunovac and Stahl 1995]. 

The Federal Trade Commission sues Bristol-Myers Squibb for blocking the sale of generic drugs, particularly the cancer drugs Platinol and Taxol and the antianxiety drug BuSpar. In a settlement, the company agrees not to engage in these types of unlawful behaviors. 

Tone, Andrea. The Age of Anxiety A History of America s Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizers. New York Basic Books, 2009. This book traces the history of drugs to treat anxiety from the first tranquilizer sold in 1955 to the billions of antianxiety drugs sold today. Although tranquilizers like Valium fell out of favor because of their addictiveness, the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants have become widely popular treatments for anxiety. The book places the popularity of these types of drugs within the larger context of what Tone calls the tranquilizer culture. 

The benzodiazepines are used primarily as sedative-antianxiety drugs (see Chapters 16 and 17) but also have broad antiseizure properties. Clonazepam (KLONOPIN) and clorazepate (TRANXENE-SD, others) have been approved in the U.S. for the long-term treatment of certain types of seizures. Diazepam (VAUUM, diastat others) and lorazepam (ativan) have well-defined roles in the management of status epilepticus. 

Other drugs of the depressant, antianxiety, antipyschotic, and anticonvulsive types are being investigated as treatments for cocaine abuse. Those which have been or will be covered in this course include the heterocyclic antidepressants desipramine and imipramine, which diminish cocaine use and craving as well as improve the outcome in the first few months of treatment. Buprenorphine (depressant) may augment the reward system (it has been found to suppress self-administration of cocaine in monkeys). Lithium sometimes works for those who are clinically depressives. Carbamazapine, bromocriptine and mazindol are also used as well as fluphenthixol and buspirone. 

Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension, worry, or uneasiness that may or may not be based on reality. Anxiety may be seen in many types of situations, ranging from the anxiety that may accompany one s employment to tiie acute anxiety that may be seen during withdrawal from alcohol. Although a certain amount of anxiety is normal, excess anxiety interferes with day-to-day functioning and can cause undue stress in the lives of certain individuals. Dru used to treat anxiety are called anti anxiety drugs. Anotiier term tiiat refers to the antianxiety dru is anxiolytics. 

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