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Practice Guideline
. 2012 Jun;16(2):77-84.
doi: 10.3109/13651501.2012.667114. Epub 2012 Apr 30.

Guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder in primary care

Borwin Bandelow  1 , Leo Sher, Robertas Bunevicius, Eric Hollander, Siegfried Kasper, Joseph Zohar, Hans-Jürgen Möller; WFSBP Task Force on Mental Disorders in Primary Care; WFSBP Task Force on Anxiety Disorders, OCD and PTSD
Collaborators, Affiliations
Practice Guideline

Guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder in primary care

Borwin Bandelow et al. Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract. 2012 Jun.

Erratum in

  • Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract. 2012 Sep;16(3):242
  • Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract. 2013 Feb;17(1):76

Abstract

Objective: Anxiety disorders are frequently under-diagnosed conditions in primary care, although they can be managed effectively by general practitioners.

Methods: This paper is a short and practical summary of the World Federation of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for the treatment in primary care. The recommendations were developed by a task force of 30 international experts in the field and are based on randomized controlled studies.

Results: First-line pharmacological treatments for these disorders are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (for all disorders), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (for some) and pregabalin (for generalized anxiety disorder only). A combination of medication and cognitive behavior/exposure therapy was shown to be a clinically desired treatment strategy.

Conclusions: This short version of an evidence-based guideline may improve treatment of anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD in primary care.

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