Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:1590-1592
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Failure of buspirone to manage benzodiazepine withdrawal
E Schweizer and K Rickels
Fifteen patients with 146 cumulative years of tranquilizer use were
withdrawn from their benzodiazepine (nine gradually and six abruptly), and
buspirone, a new nonbenzodiazepine anxiolytic, was substituted. The
addition of buspirone did not appear to lessen the intensity of the
withdrawal state. This finding supports preclinical studies indicating that
buspirone has no clinically significant benzodiazepine receptor activity.
