Anticonvulsants in the treatment of anxiety - an alternative treatment option?

According to epidemiological studies anxiety disorders are among the most frequent psychiatric disorders. Depending on the diagnosis and severity, both cognitive behaviour therapy and pharmacological approaches are applied. In today's drug therapy antidepressants are the standard first-line treatment for most anxiety disorders, and enzodiazepines for the treatment of acute anxiety states. However, many patients do not respond to the first drug prescribed, prove to have conditions that are resistant to therapy or complain of side effects. There is therefore still a need for new medicamentous treatment strategies. There are numerous studies suggesting that anticonvulsants also have potentially anxiolytic properties and might therefore be an alternative treatment option in anxiety syndromes. This article gives an overview of investigations to date on the effects of various anticonvulsants in panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia.