MONTREAL, Jun 27, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- People with disabling social anxiety disorder, or SAD, showed reduced symptoms after four to six weeks of therapy on venlafaxine HCl, an antidepressant, two studies presented Thursday revealed.
Social anxiety disorder is the third most common psychiatric disorder in the United States, afflicting about 10 million people each year. SAD sufferers have overwhelming and disabling fears of scrutiny, embarrassment, or humiliation in social situations, which they tend to avoid or curtail severely.
Researchers estimate 70 percent to 80 percent of SAD patients have co-existing psychiatric conditions, including a 40-50 percent chance of lifelong major depression.
The studies, announced at the Collegium Internationale Neuro-psychopharmacologium annual meeting, both were undertaken at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City. Subjects were given venlafaxine HCl -- distributed under the trade name Effexor XR -- once daily in doses ranging from 75 to 225 milligrams. The subjects had suffered from SAD an average of 22 years in the first study and 26 years in the second. The subjects' average age was 38. forty-four percent were women.
In the first study, the subjects showed reductions in standardized anxiety scores by week six, with greater reductions appearing by week 12. In the second study, anxiety scores were reduced by the fourth week and continued to improve through week 12.
"We need alternative therapies for this crippling disorder, to give health care providers more options," Dr. Michael Liebowitz, lead researcher on both studies, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the psychiatric institute, told United Press International.
"Venlafaxine shows high remission rates for depression and generalized anxiety disorder, and it has been proven to be effective as a first-line therapy for both conditions. So these studies indicate it can do the same for social anxiety disorder. This is very good news for patients and for the medical community." Liebowitz said.
"Paxil, the drug you see advertised on television all of the time, was the first FDA-approved drug for SAD. What's not advertised is that Paxil causes a lot of weight gain," Dr. Norman Sussman, clinical professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine in New York, told UPI. "Clinical evidence suggests that Paxil causes more sexual side-effects than Effexor."
Sussman added, "So if you get rid of the social anxiety disorder and you are feeling well, what's the point of feeling well and being social if you are fat and you can't have orgasms? So these Montreal studies suggest that Effexor will be better for people who are really going to be social."
Venlafaxine HCl has been approved in the United States and in 32 other countries for the treatment of depression and generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD.
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, manufacturer of Effexor XR, provided support for the research.
(Reported by Bruce Sylvester, UPI Science News, in West Palm Beach, Fla.)
Copyright 2002 by United Press International.