Lorazepam, a new benzodiazepine derivative, in the treatment of anxiety: a double-blind clinical evaluation.

Ninety-five adult outpatients suffering from moderate to severe anxiety were randomly assigned to treatment with lorazepam or placebo in a double-blind four-week study. Patients were evaluated at pretreatment and after two and four weeks of treatment using three rating scales. Lorazepam, at an average daily dose of 3.2 mg twice daily, was highly effective in relieving anxiety as documented by clinically and statistically significant differences over placebo in most of the items on all rating scales at all rating periods. No serious adverse effects were reported, and there were no adverse interactions with other medications, including digitalis and aspirin.