Guide to Anxiety Drugs

Find out the drugs that are used in the treatment in Anxiety. The following information is intended as a quick guide only to the various psychiatric drugs prescribed for anxiety disorders.

For more detailed information, we suggest visiting the British National Formulary's site at: http://www.bnf.org/

The Breastfeeding Network have useful information on their website about antidepressants and breastfeeding: www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk Alternatively you can call their helpline on 0870 900 8782.

Click here to read more about antidepressants and anxiety.

The National Prescribing Centre - NPC is a National Health Service (NHS) organisation, formed in April 1996 by the UK Government Department of Health. Its aim is to ‘promote and support high quality, cost-effective prescribing and medicines management across the NHS, to help improve patient care and service delivery’. Visit their website at: http://www.npci.org.uk/

The website:http://www.choiceandmedication.org.uk/ offers information on all forms of medication used in the treatment of mental health difficulties.,

Prescribed drugs list

The brand name(s) of each drug is given where applicable in brackets.

Anti-Depressants

Tricyclics

• Amitriptyline (Lentizol, Tryptizol)
• Amoxapine (Asendis)
• Clomipramine (Anafranil)
• Desipramine (Pertofan)
• Dothiepin (Prothiaden)
• Doxepin (Sinequan)
• Imipramine (Tofranil)
• Lofepramine (Gamanil)
• Nortriptyline (Allegron)
• Protriptyline (Concordin)
• Trimipramine (Surmontil)
• Maprotiline (Ludiomil)
• Mianserin (Bolvidon)
• Trazodone (Molipaxin)
• Viloxadine (Vivalan)

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOI's)

• Phenelzine (Nardil)
• Isocarboxazid
• Tranylcypromine (Parnate)
• Moclobemide (Manerix)

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI's)

• Fluoxetine (Prozac)
• Citalopram (Cipramil)
• Fluvoxamine (Faverine)
• Paroxetine (Seroxat)
• Sertraline (Lustral)

Other types of anti-depressants:

• Nefazadone (Dutonin)
• Venlafaxine (Efexor)
• Flupenthixol (Depixol, Fluanxol)
• Tryptophan (Optimax)
• Mirtazapine (Zispin)
• Reboxetine (Edronax)

Hypnotics - Sleeping pills

Benzodiazepines

• Nitrazepam
• Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol)
• Flurazepam (Dalmane)
• Loprazolam
• Lormetazepam
• Temazepam

Other Hypnotics:

• Zopiclone (Zimovane)
• Zolpidem (Stilnoct)
• Chloral Hydrate (Noctec, Welldorm)
• Triclofos Sodium
• Chlomethiazole (Heminevrin)

Anxiolytics - Anti-anxiety drugs

Tranquillisers

• Diazepam (Atensine, Rimapam, Valium)
• Alpraxolam (Xanax)
• Bromazepam (Lexotan)
• Chlordiazepoxide (Librium, Tropium)
• Clobazam (Frisium)
• Clorazepate (Tranxene)
• Lorazepam (Ativan)
• Oxazepam

Beta Blockers

Used to treat the physical symptoms of anxiety

• Propranolol (Inderal)
• Oxprenolol (Trasicar)

Other drugs for anxiety

• Buspirone (Buspar)
• Meprobamate (Equanil)