Current medical research and opinion
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
A comparative study of haloperidol and diazepam in the treatment of anxiety.
In a single-blind study in general practice, 60 patients with anxiety neuroses were randomly allocated to receive either 0.5 mg haloperidol twice daily or 2 mg diazepam 3-times daily for 6 weeks. Eighteen patients (6 on haloperidol and 12 on diazepam) were excluded from the analysis of efficacy. On the Hamilton Rating Scale both haloperidol and diazepam reduced the anxiety and depression scores. ⋯ After 6 weeks, 93% of patients felt 'better' or 'much better' on haloperidol, compared with 83% on diazepam. A few, minor side-effects were reported, slightly fewer on haloperidol than on diazepam. In the parameters tested in this study, haloperidol has been shown to be more effective than diazepam in the treatment of anxiety neuroses and appears to provide significantly better overall symptomatic relief and to be more acceptable to patients than diazepam.