Posted by med_empowered on August 21, 2005, at 14:29:40
In reply to Re: Psychiatric and Associated Drugs chart -SLS » SLS, posted by Franz on August 21, 2005, at 8:21:07
hi! Cool chart. As the benzos go, alprazolam has a bad reputation for "addiction" (the real problem I think is a combination of rebound anxiety between doses and poor prescribing habits on the part of docs--rx'ing to those who would be better served with therapy, and discontinuing the medication in those who would be best served by continuing it...it also seems some docs are really, really bad at benzo tapers). Alprazolam also has some data that indicate a dose-dependent anti-depressant effect. One study I read used large doses of alprazolam (10mgs+) for treating depressive symptoms in schizophrenia, which are *incredibly* difficult to treat. Anyway, the results were good; those who made it to the end of the study felt better, functioned better, and required lower doses of neuroleptics and fewer add-on meds. There's data showing that at lower doses, alprazolam can have a soothing, calming antidepressant effect...it also works *fast*, a major bonus for the chronically depressed. Clonazepam seems to make lots of people depressed, but apparently it helps treat some "treatment-resistant" depression cases...my hunch would be that that its "mood-stabilizing" (primarily anti-manic) properties "smooth out" certain symptoms in those with soft bipolar so they respond better to additional forms of intervention.
poster:med_empowered
thread:544407
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050821/msgs/544811.html