When alprazolam was compared with placebo for reduction in symptoms all estimates indicated a positive effect for alprazolam .
The RD of all-cause withdrawals did not differ between alprazolam and placebo .
Alprazolam appears to reduce depressive symptoms more effectively than placebo and as effectively as tricyclic antidepressants .
Whilst the rate of all-cause withdrawals did not appear to differ between alprazolam and placebo , and withdrawals were less frequent in the alprazolam group than in any of the conventional antidepressants combined group , these findings should be interpreted with caution , given the dependency properties of benzodiazepines
BACKGROUND The ' off-label ' effect of alprazolam on depression has not been systematic ally evaluated .
OBJECTIVES To determine the antidepressant effect , including tolerability and acceptability , of alprazolam as monotherapy for major depression , when compared to placebo and conventional antidepressants in out patients and patients in primary care .
Comparison of alprazolam and imipramine for treatment of outpatient depression.
A 6-week double-blind comparison of the therapeutic efficacy of alprazolam and imipramine in 90 depressed psychiatric out patients revealed a significantly superior response to alprazolam in the first 2 weeks of treatment as measured by total scores on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale . Further analyses revealed that all significant differences could be accounted for by the superior effect of alprazolam on sleep disturbance . By the end of Weeks 4 and 6 , no significant differences in therapeutic response between the two treatment groups were noted , with patients in both groups evidencing improvement on all measures . A differentially high dropout rate among patients in the imipramine treatment group posed a problem for interpretation of results in the latter weeks of treatment
When alprazolam was compared with placebo for reduction in symptoms all estimates indicated a positive effect for alprazolam .
The RD of all-cause withdrawals did not differ between alprazolam and placebo .
Alprazolam appears to reduce depressive symptoms more effectively than placebo and as effectively as tricyclic antidepressants .
Whilst the rate of all-cause withdrawals did not appear to differ between alprazolam and placebo , and withdrawals were less frequent in the alprazolam group than in any of the conventional antidepressants combined group , these findings should be interpreted with caution , given the dependency properties of benzodiazepines
BACKGROUND The ' off-label ' effect of alprazolam on depression has not been systematic ally evaluated .
OBJECTIVES To determine the antidepressant effect , including tolerability and acceptability , of alprazolam as monotherapy for major depression , when compared to placebo and conventional antidepressants in out patients and patients in primary care .