The episodic nature of anxiety and its treatment with oxazepam.

The presentation of anxiety in clinical practice is examined, and it is concluded that many patients, perhaps a majority, experience fluctuating levels of anxiety. It is therefore suggested that therapy should be intermittent, according to this waxing and waning of symptoms. Most benzodiazepines are long-acting, and are therefore unsuitable for this type of therapy, but oxazepam, which is short-acting and has no active metabolites, is ideal for this purpose. It is proposed that such a regimen would minimize the problems of over-sedation, psychological habituation, and a reluctance, due to a permanently tranquillized state, to deal with the root causes of the anxiety.