Dropout rates did not differ between antidepressants .
The latter study showed very promising results of  sertraline  in children and adolescents with GAD , which warrants its replication in larger sample s. REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS The available evidence suggests that antidepressants are superior to placebo in treating GAD .
There is also evidence from placebo-controlled trials suggesting that these drugs are well tolerated by GAD patients .
Further trials of antidepressants for GAD will help to demonstrate which antidepressants should be used for which patients
BACKGROUND Pharmacological treatments have been successfully used to treat  Generalized Anxiety Disorder ( GAD ) .
The mainstay for the pharmacological treatment of GAD in past decades has been the use of benzodiazepine and non benzodiazepine anxiolytics .
Data emerging over the last two decades have shown that antidepressants may be equally effective to anxiolytics for treating GAD .
The use of antidepressants for treating GAD may be advantageous , due to the fact that GAD presents a high co morbidity ratio with major depressive disorder ( 62 % ) and dysthymia ( 37 % ) .
OBJECTIVES To assess the efficacy and acceptability of antidepressants for treating generalized anxiety disorder .
Imipramine and chlordiazepoxide in depressive and anxiety disorders. I. Efficacy in depressed outpatients.
We r and omly assigned 425 out patients , independently classified as primarily depressed by two trained psychiatrists , to double-blind treatment with Imipramine hydrochloride , chlordiazepoxide hydrochloride , or placebo .  Those patients who remained at least moderately depressed ( following a two-week placebo washout period ) were treated for an additional eight weeks . An endpoint analysis of 387 patients who completed two or more weeks of medication disclosed early therapeutic advantages of chlordiazepoxide . By week 4 of treatment , however , imipramine produced more improvement than did placebo and chlordiazepoxide . By six and eight weeks a general , marked therapeutic advantage was found for imipramine relative to placebo and to chlordiazepoxide on measures of depression , anxiety , anger-hostility , interpersonal sensitivity , and global improvement .  Chlordiazepoxide-treated patients generally did significantly better on sleep difficulty but significantly worse on anger-hostility and interpersonal sensitivity than did imipramine- or placebo-treated patients
Dropout rates did not differ between antidepressants .
The latter study showed very promising results of  sertraline  in children and adolescents with GAD , which warrants its replication in larger sample s. REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS The available evidence suggests that antidepressants are superior to placebo in treating GAD .
There is also evidence from placebo-controlled trials suggesting that these drugs are well tolerated by GAD patients .
Further trials of antidepressants for GAD will help to demonstrate which antidepressants should be used for which patients
BACKGROUND Pharmacological treatments have been successfully used to treat  Generalized Anxiety Disorder ( GAD ) .
The mainstay for the pharmacological treatment of GAD in past decades has been the use of benzodiazepine and non benzodiazepine anxiolytics .
Data emerging over the last two decades have shown that antidepressants may be equally effective to anxiolytics for treating GAD .
The use of antidepressants for treating GAD may be advantageous , due to the fact that GAD presents a high co morbidity ratio with major depressive disorder ( 62 % ) and dysthymia ( 37 % ) .
OBJECTIVES To assess the efficacy and acceptability of antidepressants for treating generalized anxiety disorder .