Abstract
Effects of adjunctive clonidine (0.15 to 0.7 mg/ day) on symptoms experienced during and for 4 weeks after gradual alprazolam discontinuation were observed in panic disorder patients after 6 weeks of successful treatment. Twelve of 14 entered patients were considered to have had a sufficient period of discontinuation (2 weeks) and clonidine administration (1 week) for effects to be assessed adequately. Nine of these 12 patients reached zero dose of alprazolam in 3 to 4 weeks. However, 10 of 12 patients experienced new withdrawal symptoms and 11 of 12 experienced recurrent panic attacks during tapering. Although a greater proportion of patients were successfully discontinued in a shorter time than in a previous nonclonidine trial, clonidine did not appear to have a specific effect on relapse or withdrawal. A placebo-controlled trial is needed to discriminate between possible contributions of clonidine and other factors (e.g., physician attitude, placebo effect of pi11 taking) to this improved outcome.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 270-274 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 4 |
State | Published - Aug 1988 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Pharmacology (medical)