Posted by Kon on January 21, 2004, at 1:09:35
In reply to Re: Do SSRI's Klonopin/Xanax attack SA differently? » Adam33, posted by Sad Panda on January 20, 2004, at 0:57:28
>It's a bit of an oversimplflication, but, Benzos aim to treat the symptoms of anxiety, Antidepressants aim to treat the cause.
I'm pretty sure there isn't any real evidence for this claim (even the simplified version)although one comes across it on many forums. A similar claim is that SSRIs work on the cognitive component of SAD while SSRIs work on the physiological component. Again, there is no evidence I've ever come across for these claims. In fact, beta-blockers which work very well on the physiological symptoms of anxiety are pretty useless in generalized SAD. Moreover, tests designed to demonstrate efficacy of a given drug almost always employ the Liebowitz social anxiety scale and other similar tests and to the best of my knowledge, I've never come across any study showing benzos to preferentially improve symptoms of anxiety while SSRI improve other components. If you have any such studies please post them as I would be interested in looking at them.
poster:Kon
thread:302839
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040118/msgs/303552.html