Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:51:04.472Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Evaluation of Alprazolam in the Treatment of Reactive or Neurotic (Secondary) Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Norman William Imlah
Norman William Imlah*
Affiliation:
All Saints Hospital, Birmingham B18 5SD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

To investigate the effectiveness of a new benzodiazepine, alprazolam, and to compare this with amitriptyline (AMT) and with placebo, a trial was undertaken in 65 patients in whom depression was considered to be the dominating feature but not considered to be the primary cause of their condition; it was designed to exclude endogenous depressions. A consistent pattern was found favouring alprazolam over AMT both in rate of response and in total response, as well as significant differences in favour of both alprazolam and AMT over placebo. A comparison of side effects showed a definite trend in favour of alprazolam and placebo over AMT.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 146 , Issue 5 , May 1985 , pp. 515 - 519
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aden, G. C. & Thien, S. G. (1980) Alprazolam compared to diazepam and placebo in the treatment of anxiety. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 41, 245–248.Google Scholar
Fabre, L. F. (1976) Pilot open label study with alprazolam in out-patients with neurotic depression. Current Therapeutic Research, 19, 661–668.Google ScholarPubMed
Fabre, L. F. & Mclendon, D. M. (1979) A double-blind study comparing the efficacy and safety of alprazolam with diazepam and placebo in anxious out-patients. Current Therapeutic Research, 25, 519–526.Google Scholar
Fabre, L. F. & Mclendon, D. M. (1980) A double-blind study comparing the efficacy and safety of alprazolam with imipramine and placebo in primary depression. Current Therapeutic Research, 27, 474–482.Google Scholar
Feighner, J. P., Aden, G. C., Fabre, L. F., Rickels, K., Smith, W. T. (1983) Comparison of alprazolam, imipramine and placebo in the treatment of depression. JAMA, 249, 3057–3064.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1959) Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 32, 50–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipman, R. S. & Covi, L. (1976) In Evaluation of Psychological Therapies (eds. Spitzer, R. L. and Klein, D. S.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
O'Connor, W. T., Earley, B. & Leonard, B. E. (1984) Antidepressant properties of the triazolobenzodiazepines alprazolam and adinazolam: Studies on the olfactory bulbectomized rat model of depression. Presented at the 1st European Congress on “Recent Advances in Psychiatry”. March 1984.Google Scholar
Raskin, A. et al (1970) Raskin Depression Scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 23, 164–173.Google Scholar
Sethy, V. H. & Hodges, D. H. Jr. (1982) Alprazolam in a biochemical model of depression. Biochemical Pharmacology, 31, 3155–3157.Google Scholar
Snaith, R. P., Bridge, G. U. K. & Hamilton, M. (1976) Leeds Self Assessment Scale. British Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 156–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.