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Current and potential pharmacological and psychosocial interventions for anxiety symptoms and disorders in patients with schizophrenia: structured review
Author(s) -
Howells Fleur M.,
Kingdon David G.,
Baldwin David S.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.2628
Subject(s) - anxiety , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychosocial , psychiatry , psychology , distress , psychological intervention , cognitive behavioral therapy , antipsychotic , clinical psychology , psychosis , anxiolytic
Objective Between 30% and 62% of patients with schizophrenia present with co‐morbid anxiety disorders that are associated with increased overall burden. Our aim was to summarize current and potential interventions for anxiety in schizophrenia. Design Structured review, summarizing pharmacological and psychosocial interventions used to reduce anxiety in schizophrenia and psychosis. Results Antipsychotics have been shown to reduce anxiety, increase anxiety, or have no effect. These may be augmented with another antipsychotic, anxiolytic, or antidepressant. Novel agents, such as L‐theanine, pregabalin, and cycloserine, show promise in attenuating anxiety in schizophrenia. Psychosocial therapies have been developed to reduce the distress of schizophrenia. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has shown that benefit and refinements in the therapy have been successful, for example, for managing worry in schizophrenia. CBT usually involves more than 16 sessions, as short courses of CBT do not attenuate the presentation of anxiety in schizophrenia. To address time and cost, the development of manualized CBT to address anxiety in schizophrenia is being developed. Conclusions The presence of coexisting anxiety symptoms and co‐morbid anxiety disorders should be ascertained when assessing patients with schizophrenia or other psychoses as a range of pharmacological and psychosocial treatments are available.