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UCSD-LED STUDY SHOWS DRUG EFFECTIVE FOR SOCIAL PHOBIA
Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that the drug fluvoxamine improves symptoms of social phobia and improves patients' social, work and family life. Results of the study, which was carried out at UCSD and three other centers, are published in the May issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
This multi-center study demonstrates that a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) is effective in treating social phobia, a serious and common psychiatric disorder in which sufferers have an extreme fear of being scrutinized or behaving in an embarrassing or humiliating way in front of others.
"In this study we found that fluvoxamine is effective, has few side effects and carries no risk for abuse or dependency," said lead author Murray Stein, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the UCSD School of Medicine. "This is an important new option for patients." Stein is also director of the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders Clinic at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in La Jolla.
Researchers at UCSD School of Medicine, Columbia University in New York, Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, and Harvard Medical School in Boston carried out the double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
They treated 90 patients for 12 weeks with either fluvoxamine, which is known in the United States by the brand name LUVOX Tablets, or a placebo. Significantly more patients in the fluvoxamine group than in the placebo group responded to treatment (43 percent vs. 23 percent). The drug was also more effective than placebo in improving disruption in work, social life and family life.
Social phobia, or social anxiety disorder, is the third most common psychiatric disorder in the United States, affecting more than 5 million Americans each year. Sufferers try at all costs to avoid situations where scrutiny may occur, such as meeting new people, using the telephone, and eating or speaking in public. When forced to confront these situations, people with social phobia suffer intense apprehension and fear that may be accompanied by symptoms such as sweating, stomach cramps, trembling or headaches.
This disorder often co-exists with other mental illnesses, including obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, depression, eating disorders, alcoholism or drug abuse. In fact, two out of three social phobia sufferers will develop another psychiatric disorder at some time during their lives. One in 10 social phobia sufferers will attempt suicide at some time during their illness.
The study was sponsored by Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Marietta, GA., with funding provided by The Pharmacia & Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo, MI.
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04/27/99
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