Anti-anxiety Drugs (Drugs: the Straight Facts)

125 Pages·2006·2.27 MB·English

by  Donna Toufexis

DRUGS
The Straight Facts
Anti-Anxiety
Drugs
DRUGS The Straight Facts
Alcohol
Alzheimer’s and Memory Drugs
Anti-Anxiety Drugs
Antidepressants
AIDS Treatment Drugs
Birth Control Pills
Body Enhancement Products
Cocaine
Date Rape Drugs
Designer Drugs
Diet Pills
Ecstasy
Hallucinogens
Heroin
Inhalants
Marijuana
Morphine
Nicotine
Opium
Prescription Pain Relievers
Ritalin and Other Methylphenidate-Containing Drugs
Sleep Aids
DRUGS
The Straight Facts
Anti-Anxiety
Drugs
Donna Toufexis
and
Sayamwong E. Hammack
Consulting Editor
David J. Triggle
University Professor
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
State University of New York at Buffalo
Anti-Anxiety Drugs
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Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Toufexis,Donna,1959–
Anti-anxiety drugs/Donna Toufexis & Sayamwong E.Hammack.
p.cm.—(Drugs,the straight facts)
ISBN 0-7910-8556-2
1.Tranquilizing drugs—Juvenile literature.I.Hammack,Sayamwong Emwill.
II.Title. III.Series.
RM333.T68 2005
615'.7882—dc22 2005021243
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Table of Contents
The Use and Abuse of Drugs
David J. Triggle, Ph.D. 6
Introduction 8
1. Fear and Anxiety 10
2. Review of the Nervous System 50
3. Animal Models of Anxiety Disorders 60
4. Benzodiazepines 68
5. Antidepressants: MAOIs and Tricyclics 78
6. Alternative Therapies for
Anxiety Disorders 94
7. Teenagers and Anti-Anxiety Drugs 107
Glossary 112
Bibliography 114
Further Reading 117
Websites 118
Index 119
The Use and Abuse of Drugs
The issues associated with druguse and abuse in contemporary
society are vexing subjects, fraught with political agendas
and ideals that often obscure essential information that teens
need to know to have intelligent discussions about how to
best deal with the problems associated with drug use and
abuse.Drugs: The Straight Facts aims to provide this essential
information through straightforward explanations of how an
individual drug or group of drugs works in both therapeutic
and non-therapeutic conditions; with historical information
about the use and abuse of specific drugs; with discussion of
drug policies in the United States; and with an ample list of
further reading.
From the start,the series uses the word “drug”to describe
psychoactive substances that are used for medicinal or non-
medicinal purposes. Included in this broad category are
substances that are legal or illegal. It is worth noting that
humans have used many of these substances for hundreds, if
not thousands of years.For example,traces of marijuana and
cocaine have been found in Egyptian mummies; the use of
peyote and Amanita fungi has long been a component of
religious ceremonies worldwide; and alcohol production and
consumption have been an integral part of many human
cultures’ social and religious ceremonies. One can speculate
about why early human societies chose to use such drugs.
Perhaps,anything that could provide relief from the harsh-
ness of life—anything that could make the poor conditions
and fatigue associated with hard work easier to bear—was
considered a welcome tonic. Life was likely to be, accord-
ing to the seventeenth century English philosopher Thomas
Hobbes, “poor, nasty, brutish and short.” One can also spec-
ulate about modern human societies’ continued use and
abuse of drugs. Whatever the reasons, the consequences of
sustained drug use are not insignificant—addiction, over-
dose,incarceration,and drug wars—and must be dealt with
by an informed citizenry.
6
The problem that faces our society today is how to break
the connection between our demand for drugs and the will-
ingness of largely outside countries to supply this highly
profitable trade. This is the same problem we have faced
since narcotics and cocaine were outlawed by the Harrison
Narcotic Act of 1914, and we have yet to defeat it despite
current expenditures of approximately $20 billion per year on
“the war on drugs.”The first step in meeting any challenge
is always an intelligent and informed citizenry.The purpose
of this series is to educate our readers so that they can
make informed decisions about issues related to drugs and
drug abuse.
SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL READING
David T.Courtwright,Forces ofHabit.Drugs and the Making of
the Modern World.Cambridge,Mass.:Harvard University
Press,2001.David Courtwright is Professor of History at
the University ofNorth Florida.
Richard Davenport-Hines,The Pursuit of Oblivion.A Global
History ofNarcotics.New York:Norton,2002.The author
is a professional historian and a member of the Royal
Historical Society.
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. New York: Harper & Row,
1932.Huxley’sbook,written in 1932,paints a picture of a
cloned society devoted only to the pursuit ofhappiness.
David J.Triggle,Ph.D.
University Professor
School ofPharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
State University ofNew York at Buffalo
7
Introduction
I had always hated elevators. Every time the door closed I
would wonder if I would ever see daylight again.I still used
to get in them though.At least I did until that day last winter.
Concordia University’s main building is 13 stories high.
Almost everyone uses a series of escalators to get up to the
floor they want.The Biology department is on the 12th floor
and so people studying or working in that department are
basically the only ones using the two small elevators located
on the first floor to get up there.I used to go up in the escala-
tors every morning. One Friday morning in January, I had
just come inside from a frightfully cold winter’s day.I was late
so I decided to take the elevator upstairs.There were three of
us in the elevator that day:myself,a young woman who must
have been studying engineering because she pressed the 9th
floor button to get off on the Engineering and Mathematics
floor,and an older man dressed in scrubs who I recognized as
being one of the Animal Care personal.
I pressed the button for the 12th floor and the doors
closed.As I said,I was always a little nervous in elevators so
I watched as the light for each successive floor lit up as we
ascended. Third and fourth floor and so far so good. Five
and six and going strong. Then just as we passed the 7th
floor, the elevator came to such an abrupt stop that the
threeof us simultaneously lost our balances.Then it jerked
afew more inches upward and one side seemed to get stuck.
It stopped again, this time with one side of the elevator a
fewinches higher than the other side.The three of us stood
on the higher portion of the floor and faced towards the
incline in order to stop ourselves from slipping. The older
man pressed the alarm button and waited. No one
answered. He pressed it again. The same silence. He then
started pressing the open door button. The door opened
slowly.A wall made of concrete bricks faced us.We realized
then that we were lodged in,stuck like mortar between the
7th and 8th floor.
8
It was at this point that I began to feel panic. My heart
seemed to be racing uncontrollably.The pounding in my ears
was all I could hear,and nothing else in the little room seemed
to matter. My hair stood on end as the fear gripped me. The
walls seemed to be closing in around me.I was losing control
ofmy body,and I thought that I might die.Each second offear
seemed to make things worse.The blood drained from my face
and I felt like I would pass out any second.I would die in there
with no food, and even worse, no water! I started to scream
“Help,help!’The other people in the elevator tried to calm me
down.“What do they know,”I said to myself.They are going to
die also.I pushed them away.Just then a voice came through
the intercom. “We’ll get you out,” it said. Then the elevator
shuddered from side to side and finally started to move
upwards once more.It opened on the 8thfloor and all three of
us rushed out. After that terrible panic attack, I never got in
that elevator again.And I never will.
Donna Toufexis
Spring 1992
9