Antianxiety Medications at College

Antianxiety Medications

The function of antianxiety medications is to reduce the feeling of anxiety, which in some cases can become extreme in the form of a panic attack, which can be quite incapacitating.

The antianxiety medications include the very popular class of medications called benzodiazepines, which include drugs such as Valium (diazepam), Librium (chlordiazepoxide), Xanax (alprazolam), Ativan (lorazepam), and Serax (oxazepam); many of the antidepressants described above; and other agents such as Buspar (buspirone), Beta blockers (inderal, atenolol), and a variety of anticonvulsant medications and atypical neuroleptics.

Key Points About Antianxiety Medications

• The SSRIs are probably the first choice for the long-term treatment of significant anxiety for the same ­ reasons as described in the previous section. They do take several weeks to be effective.
• The advantage of the benzodiazepines is that they ­ usually work almost immediately and are very effective and relatively safe.
• The disadvantage of benzodiazepines is that they can cause sedation and can become addictive, as people develop a tolerance to them over time. They can also affect cognitive function.
• Benzodiazepines are popular drugs of abuse, so they require close monitoring and are usually contraindicated in someone with a substance abuse problem.
• There is a place for the other medications mentioned above and they also have advantages and disadvantages in certain situations that are beyond the scope of this book.