Our review confirms the usefulness of long-term pharmacological treatments for PD and GAD and suggests that they can provide further improvement over that obtained during short-term therapy .
Paroxetine , escitalopram , and clonazepam can be effective for long-term treatment of PD .
Pregabalin and quetiapine can be effective for long-term treatment of GAD , while preliminary suggestions emerged for agomelatine and vortioxetine .
We did not find any evidence for determining the optimal length and /or dosage of medications to minimize the relapse risk .
Many aspects of long-term pharmacological treatments for  anxiety disorders ( AnxDs ) are still debated .
We undertook an up date d systematic review of long-term pharmacological studies on panic disorder ( PD ) , generalized anxiety disorder ( GAD ) , and social anxiety disorder ( SAD ) .
Switching from long-term benzodiazepine therapy to pregabalin in patients with generalized anxiety disorder: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
To evaluate the efficacy of pregabalin in facilitating taper off chronic benzodiazepines , out patients ( N = 106 ) with a lifetime diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder ( current diagnosis could be subthreshold ) who had been treated with a benzodiazepine for 8–52 weeks were stabilized for 2–4 weeks on alprazolam in the range of 1–4 mg/day . Patients were then r and omized to 12 weeks of double-blind treatment with either pregabalin 300–600 mg/day or placebo while undergoing a gradual benzodiazepine taper at a rate of 25 % per week , followed by a 6-week benzodiazepine-free phase during which they continued double-blind study treatment . Outcome measures included ability to remain benzodiazepine-free ( primary ) as well as changes in Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM)-A and Physician Withdrawal Checklist ( PWC ) . At endpoint , a non-significant higher proportion of patients remained benzodiazepine-free  receiving pregabalin compared with placebo ( 51.4 % vs 37.0 % ) . Treatment with pregabalin was associated with significantly greater endpoint reduction in the HAM-A total score  versus placebo ( −2.5 vs + 1.3 ; p < 0.001 ) , and lower endpoint mean PWC scores ( 6.5 vs 10.3 ; p = 0.012 ) . Thirty patients ( 53 % ) in  the pregabalin group and 19 patients ( 37 % ) in the  placebo group completed the study , reducing the power to detect a significant difference on the primary outcome . The results on the anxiety and withdrawal severity measures suggest that switching to pregabalin may be a safe and effective method for discontinuing long-term benzodiazepine therapy
Our review confirms the usefulness of long-term pharmacological treatments for PD and GAD and suggests that they can provide further improvement over that obtained during short-term therapy .
Paroxetine , escitalopram , and clonazepam can be effective for long-term treatment of PD .
Pregabalin and quetiapine can be effective for long-term treatment of GAD , while preliminary suggestions emerged for agomelatine and vortioxetine .
We did not find any evidence for determining the optimal length and /or dosage of medications to minimize the relapse risk .
Many aspects of long-term pharmacological treatments for  anxiety disorders ( AnxDs ) are still debated .
We undertook an up date d systematic review of long-term pharmacological studies on panic disorder ( PD ) , generalized anxiety disorder ( GAD ) , and social anxiety disorder ( SAD ) .