Use of benzodiazepines and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in middle-aged and older adults with anxiety disorders: a longitudinal and prospective study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the use of benzodiazepines (BZs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors/selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs/SNRIs) over nine years of follow-up in middle-aged and older adults with diagnoses of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, social phobia, or generalized anxiety disorder.

Setting And Participants: Participants in this study were enrolled in the Harvard/Brown Anxiety Research Project (HARP). HARP is a naturalistic, longitudinal, multisite study of adults with anxiety disorders who are recruited from psychiatric settings.

Results of a naturalistic longitudinal study of benzodiazepine and SSRI use in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia.

The past decade has brought major new developments in the psychopharmacologic management of generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia. We examined medication-prescribing patterns for the treatment of these anxiety disorders for 12 years to assess changes in patients' anti-anxiety psychotropic medication usage during that period of evolving practice guidelines. We examined psychotropic medication use in 305 patients with generalized anxiety disorder and 232 with social phobia enrolled in the Harvard/Brown Anxiety Disorders Research Project (HARP), a prospective, longitudinal study of anxiety disorders.

Are benzodiazepines still the medication of choice for patients with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia?

Objective: Recently, pharmacological treatment guidelines for panic disorder have changed as newer treatment options have become available. The authors examined how the use of psychotropic drugs has shifted over the course of 10 years to determine if prescribing patterns have changed to reflect these revised treatment guidelines.

Method: A total of 443 patients with panic disorder were enrolled in the Harvard/Brown Anxiety Research Project, a prospective longitudinal study of anxiety disorders.