Anxiety disorders have a high prevalence and constitute some of the most frequent psychological problems seen in medical practice (Mavissakalian & Barlow, 1981). The purpose of this paper is to examine the very current research on the pharmacological treatment of agoraphobia. To this end, the paper first examines literature related to the kinds of drugs that are available for the disorder.
An examination is then made of the drugs that are most commonly dispensed and their effects on certain kinds of patients. The final section of the review examines the effectiveness of using a combined pharmacological and behavioral approach to the treatment of agoraphobia. The review ends with the formulation of conclusions based on the reviewed research.
Kinds of Drugs Available For Treatment Of Agoraphobia
According to Bandelow, Sievert, Rothemeyer, Hajak, Broocks and Ruther (1995), there are a variety of medications currently available to physicians and clinicians for the treatment of agoraphobia. These drugs include: (1) the tricyclic antidepressants (e.g., imipramine and clomipramine); (2) benzodiazepines (e.g., alprazolam); (3) serotonin reuptake inhibitors (e.g. fluvoxamine) and (4) the monoamine oxidase inhibitor phenelzine.
It is helpful here to briefly review some of the current research on these drugs. In this regard, in order to compare the efficacy and tolerability of diazepam and alprazolam for panic attacks and agoraphobia, Noyes, Burrows, Reich, Judd, Garvey, Normal, cook and Marriott (1996) randomly assigned 241 subjects with panic disorder or agoraphobia with panic attacks to flexible doses of diazepam, alprazolam, or placebo for an eight week period.
At the end of the trial, over 60% of subjects taking either diazepam or alprazolam were at least moderately improved compared with less than 30% of those taking placebo. On all measures of efficacy, subjects taking diazepam and alprazolam showed an equally f...