30 male alcoholics, who were anxious by clinical research standards,received either disulfiram (250 mg) or placebo daily for 1 week. There are claims that disulfiram has a sedative effect and that this has some useful antianxiety action, but this had not been tested in a controlled manner. There were no significant differences in the mean changes between the disulfiram and placebo groups as determined by any of the tests used. Both the Zung self-rating anxiety scale and the anxiety scale of the profile of mood states indicated (p < 0.05) that those receiving disulfiram were extreme reactors as compared to the placebo group; those receiving disulfiram either became more anxious or experienced the most improvement. The study suggests that disulfiram may selectively relieve or increase the anxiety level of subgroups of subjects, but does not delineate a predictor of response.

Keywords:
Dopamine beta-hydroxylase, Disulfiram, Anxiety, Chronic alcoholic, Catecholamine
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1981
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