Anti-anxiety drug usage in the United States, 1989.

In 1989 more than 36.4 million new prescriptions for minor tranquilizers (MTs) were written in the continental United States. These drugs were 81 percent of all tranquilizers prescribed; the majority of the MTs were benzodiazepines, with hydroxyzines, meprobamates and buspirones making up the remaining 19 percent. The predominant diagnosis associated with the total MT group of drugs was "anxiety states". This condition was listed as a reason for one in every four new prescriptions for MTs. Per capita new prescriptions averaged 232.3 per 1,000 population, with the highest rate reported in the East South Central area and the lowest in the Pacific states. Psychiatrists accounted for 20 percent of the new prescriptions, just behind internists with 21 percent.