[Use of benzodiazepines in the treatment of depression].

The double-blind controlled trials between benzodiazepines and antidepressants show that benzodiazepines have not specific antidepressive action in depression. The benzodiazepines exert limited effect on the anxiety of endogenous and melancholia. They have definitive properties in neurotic depressions and mixed anxious-depressive states. In theses states, they may extenuate inhibition and elevate mood. Benzodiazepines are primarily anxiolytic rather than antidepressant -- But in some cases, anxiety and depression are not easily distinguished.