Resistance to the Anti-Anxiety Effect of Buspirone in Patients with a History of Benzodiazepine Use

To the Editor: We recently completed a study (Schweizer E, et al.: unpublished data) of the efficacy of the new, non-benzodiazepine anxiolytic buspirone in the management of withdrawal from benzodiazepines. Not surprisingly, in the light of previous preclinical¹ and clinical studies,² buspirone did not have cross-tolerance to benzodiazepines and did not provide relief from symptoms of the benzodiazepine-withdrawal syndrome. We were struck, nonetheless, by the comments of many veteran benzodiazepine users that buspirone “did nothing for them” or was “like taking nothing at all.” Even patients maintained on buspirone after withdrawal equated its effect with that of placebo. In view., No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.