Pediatria i Medycyna Rodzinna (Mar 2015)
Therapy of anxiety disorders – the problem of choosing a drug in the primary health care physician’s practice
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental disorders. A vast majority of patients with such problems are treated by the primary health care physicians. In practice, the most available form of treatment at this level of health care is pharmacotherapy. The most frequently chosen drugs belong to the group of benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepine anxiolytics exhibit the commonly known advantages: they are effective in the short run and very well tolerated. A bit less attention is paid to their severe disadvantages. These disadvantages comprise first of all: inclination to induce dependence which is often connected with the need to increase the dose of the drug to obtain a comparable effect, adverse impact on cognitive functions, and the risk of a significant increase in the dose of the drug after discontinuation of benzodiazepine (rebound phenomena). The article presents disadvantages and advantages of benzodiazepines and benefits connected with the use of the underestimated though effective anxiolytic – hydroxyzine. The results of controlled studies point to the efficacy of this drug in therapy of generalized anxiety disorder. Hydroxyzine may be also effectively used during discontinuation of benzodiazepines. This drug does not exhibit any addictive properties and its administration does not cause disturbances in cognitive functions. Psychotherapy continues to be the basic form of treatment of anxiety disorders, but its use in everyday medical practice conditions is often very difficult. In pharmacotherapy of anxiety the use of hydroxyzine is safer than the use of benzodiazepines, and it is often equally effective. Also other drugs, which are not discussed extensively in this article, such as antidepressants in the group of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, buspirone and pregabalin, exhibit significant anti-anxiety effects.
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