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Risperidone Might Be Safe and Effective Augmentative Treatment for Anxiety Disorders: Presented at ADAA

By Jerry Ingram

MIAMI, FL -- March 15, 2004 -- Risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic, might serve as a helpful tool for treatment of refractory panic, social anxiety and generalised anxiety disorders.

Researchers presented these findings here on March 13^th at the Anxiety Disorders Association of America 24^th Annual Conference.

"People have been looking for adjunctive treatment options [for use] in patients who do not respond to first-line treatment. So one idea is to examine atypical antipsychotics such as risperidone, which has fewer side effects than some of the other medications," said Elizabeth A. Hoge, MD, Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Related Disorders, Massachusetts General Hospital.

For this preliminary investigation, Dr. Hoge and colleagues enrolled 15 patients with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder or social anxiety disorder. All patients had remained symptomatic after 8 weeks of treatment with antidepressants or a benzodiazepine.

Patients were given risperidone beginning with a dosage of .25mg/day and "flexibly titrated over 8 weeks" in addition to their ongoing treatment. Efficacy of treatment was assessed using the Clinical Global Impression-Severity Scale (SCI-S) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A).

All patients had significant improvement on the CGI-S (P < .001; mean reduction = 1.5 points) and a significant reduction on the HAM-A for those with GAD (P < .02; mean change = 6.9 points).

Investigators also found that risperidone was generally well tolerated with only 2 patients discontinuing use of the medication. The most common adverse effects were sedation, dry mouth, increased appetite and/or weight gain.

"We found that patients with social anxiety, generalised anxiety and panic disorders did quite well according to the HAM-A and CGI-S [scores] and we noticed significant difference from where they were at baseline," Dr. Hoge concluded.

However, these findings are preliminary and need to be confirmed by larger studies, the researchers pointed out.

Dr. Hoge conducted her research with H, E. Reese, A.C. Doyle, N.M. Simon, J.J. Worthington, and M.H. Pollack.


[Study title: Risperidone for the Treatment of Refractory Panic, Social Anxiety and Generalized Anxiety Disorders. Abstract 125]

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