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 .
Alprazolam versus imipramine in depressed out-patients with neurovegetative signs.
The purpose of this study was to compare the safety and efficacy of a relatively new antidepressant drug , alprazolam ( a triazolobenzodiazepine ) with imipramine in the treatment of 60 depressed symptomatic volunteers . Eligible patients were r and omly assigned after a 1-week washout to one of the medications and followed for 6 treatment weeks . Contrary to the earlier report of Feighner et al. ( 1983 ) , who found alprazolam superior to imipramine and placebo , but consistent with Rush et al. ( 1985 ) we find imipramine superior in efficacy to alprazolam on a variety of symptoms . Both the present study and Rush 's study employed patients with signs indicative of response to tricyclics . Feighner 's patients may have been the type who tend to be less responsive to tricyclics but may be more responsive to alprazolam .  Some of our data also show that alprazolam may have a more advantageous effect in the early weeks of treatment but is overtaken in subsequent treatment weeks by imipramine
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 .