Questions & Answers

Harvard Mental Health Letter, November, 2003

Q I've read that antidepressants are now officially recommended as the best drug treatment for panic disorder. Are the benzodiazepine anti-anxiety drugs still regarded as useful?

A The American Psychiatric Association's current guidelines stress the advantages of antidepressant treatment. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), and paroxetine (Paxil) are most popular, but other antidepressants - for example, the newer drug venlafaxine (Effexor) and the older tricyclics and monoamine oxidase inhibitors - are equally effective. And so are benzodiazepines, including alprazolam (Xanax), lorazepam (Ativan), and clonazepam (Klonopin). The choice ...