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Antianxiety Drugs: Clinical use in Psychiatry

  • Chapter
Handbook of Psychopharmacology

Abstract

Each year, millions of patients visit physicians seeking relief from tensions, fears, worries, anxieties, and depression. Most physicians have found psychopharmacological agents, prescribed within the context of supportive, ventilating, or nonexploratory, as well as dynamic and insight-oriented psychotherapy, most useful for alleviating these disturbing emotions. Psychopharmacological agents do not, of course, represent a panacea for all neurotic ills. They do not, for example, directly affect the psychodynamic and environmental factors responsible for emotional problems; they do not directly affect the characterological or personality side of the patient (Joyce, 1971). By relieving the symptoms of anxiety, tension, and depression, however, they often render a patient less miserable and able to cope with intrapsychic and extrapsychic stress more appropriately.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Karl Rickels, Robert W. Downing & Andrew Winokur

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  1. Karl Rickels
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  2. Robert W. Downing
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  3. Andrew Winokur
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, UK

    Leslie L. Iversen

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK

    Susan D. Iversen

  3. Departments of Pharmacology and Psychiatry, School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, USA

    Solomon H. Snyder

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© 1978 Plenum Press, New York

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Rickels, K., Downing, R.W., Winokur, A. (1978). Antianxiety Drugs: Clinical use in Psychiatry. In: Iversen, L.L., Iversen, S.D., Snyder, S.H. (eds) Handbook of Psychopharmacology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3189-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3189-6_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

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