Two primary outcomes of efficacy and acceptability showed a possible advantage of benzodiazepines over placebo .
Low- quality evidence shows a possible superiority of benzodiazepine over placebo in the short-term treatment of panic disorders .
Due to these limitations , our results regarding the efficacy of benzodiazepines versus placebo provide only limited guidance for clinical practice .
BACKGROUND Panic disorder is characterised by recurrent unexpected panic attacks consisting of a wave of intense fear that reaches a peak within a few minutes .
Panic disorder is a common disorder , with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 1 % to 5 % in the general population and a 7 % to 10 % prevalence in primary care setting s. Its aetiology is not fully understood and is probably heterogeneous .
Panic disorder is treated with psychological and pharmacological interventions , often used in combination .
Although benzodiazepines are frequently used in the treatment of panic disorder , guidelines recommend antidepressants , mainly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ( SSRIs ) , as first-line treatment for panic disorder , particularly due to their lower incidence of dependence and withdrawal reaction when compared to benzodiazepines .
Despite these recommendations , benzodiazepines are widely used in the treatment of panic disorder , probably because of their rapid onset of action .
OBJECTIVES To assess the efficacy and acceptability of benzodiazepines versus placebo in the treatment of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia in adults .
Memory functions, alprazolam and exposure therapy: a controlled longitudinal study of agoraphobia with panic disorder.
Benzodiazepines ( BZs ) produce transient antero grade amnesia when given to normal subjects . The present longitudinal study assessed whether BZs impair memory functions in a clinical ly anxious group . Eighty-two agoraphobics with panic disorder were r and omly allocated to one of four treatment groups result ing from a combination of two drug treatments ( alprazolam or placebo ) and two psychological treatments ( exposure or relaxation ) . Of these , 38 subjects were assessed on a range of objective and subjective indices of memory and mood at three time points : before treatment , after 8 weeks of treatment and again at 24 weeks when patients had been free of medication from 5 - 8 weeks . Alprazolam produced pronounced impairments on a word recall task . At the 24-week medication-free follow-up , alprazolam patients were still impaired on the task compared with placebo patients . Alprazolam did not impair performance on an implicit memory task and did not affect digit span . Differences between psychological treatments emerged mainly in subjective memory effects . Findings are discussed in terms of the specificity of BZ-induced amnesia and differential tolerance to the varying effects of BZs . Implication s are drawn out for the patient 's ability to function optimally in daily life while taking alprazolam
Two primary outcomes of efficacy and acceptability showed a possible advantage of benzodiazepines over placebo .
Low- quality evidence shows a possible superiority of benzodiazepine over placebo in the short-term treatment of panic disorders .
Due to these limitations , our results regarding the efficacy of benzodiazepines versus placebo provide only limited guidance for clinical practice .
BACKGROUND Panic disorder is characterised by recurrent unexpected panic attacks consisting of a wave of intense fear that reaches a peak within a few minutes .
Panic disorder is a common disorder , with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 1 % to 5 % in the general population and a 7 % to 10 % prevalence in primary care setting s. Its aetiology is not fully understood and is probably heterogeneous .
Panic disorder is treated with psychological and pharmacological interventions , often used in combination .
Although benzodiazepines are frequently used in the treatment of panic disorder , guidelines recommend antidepressants , mainly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ( SSRIs ) , as first-line treatment for panic disorder , particularly due to their lower incidence of dependence and withdrawal reaction when compared to benzodiazepines .
Despite these recommendations , benzodiazepines are widely used in the treatment of panic disorder , probably because of their rapid onset of action .
OBJECTIVES To assess the efficacy and acceptability of benzodiazepines versus placebo in the treatment of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia in adults .