Abstract
The effects of doxepin and diazepam upon anxiety states were studied in a double-blind controlled trial which involved 50 anxious neurotics.
The drugs were prescribed for three weeks and there were no drop-outs.
The mean dose of doxepin was 113 mg/day and of diazepam 21 mg/day.
Ratings of anxiety, physical symptoms and depression were made on entry to the trial and after 7, 14 and 21 days.
The drugs proved to be of comparable efficacy in decreasing anxiety and somatic complaints but doxepin controlled depressive symptoms better. Patients taking diazepam suffered more often from drowsiness, muscular weakness and constipation.
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Formerly Research Fellow, School of Psychiatry, University of N.S.W.; now Commonwealth Medical Fellow, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London, S.E. 5.
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Bianchi, G.N., Phillips, J. A comparative trial of doxepin and diazepam in anxiety states. Psychopharmacologia 25, 86–95 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00422620
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00422620