The Treatment of Anxious/Depressive States: A Double-Blind Comparison of Medazepam with Fluphenazine/Nortriptyline

Abstract

A double-blind comparison of medazepam 10 mg (‘Nobrium’) tds with fluphenazine 0·5 mg/nortriptyline 10 mg (‘Motival’) tds was conducted in general practice patients suffering from anxiety with mild depression. Patients were assessed on self-rating and Physician's Rating symptom scales, and by twenty-eight days fluphenazine/nortriptyline was shown to be superior to medazepam in relief of symptoms taken individually and as a whole, the level of significance reaching 0·1% on patients' self-ratings. A similar trend in favour of fluphenazine/nortriptyline was seen at seven days but only reached 5% significance levels for certain symptom clusters on the patient's self-ratings. The implications of these results for therapy with psychotropic drug combinations, and the treatment of psychiatric illness in general practice are discussed.