Rebound anxiety in anxious patients after abrupt withdrawal of benzodiazepine treatment

Abstract

In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 4 wk of benzodiazepine treatment followed by 3 wk of abrupt or gradual drug withdrawal, 16 patients whose benzodiazepine was withdrawn abruptly were worse (P < 0.05) than 13 who had received placebo in terms of change in mean anxiety scores from the pretreatment level. The scores of 7 patients (44%) whose benzodiazepine was withdrawn abruptly increased .gtoreq. 10% on both the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety and the Self Rating Symptom Scale. There was no cases of rebound anxiety in 14 patients whose benzodiazepine was withdrawn gradually; fewer cases of rebound anxiety were seen with a benzodiazepine that had a long half-life.