Impact of anxiety therapy on patients' quality of life.

The treatment of anxiety is one of the leading problems in medicine today. Although traditional anxiolytic drugs have been effective in reducing the symptoms of anxiety, their efficacy has often been achieved at the expense of the patient's quality of life. The sedative side effects and impaired psychomotor functioning associated with the use of benzodiazepine anxiolytics not only impede the success of therapy, but jeopardize the patient's safety. This article addresses these salient issues and provides evidence suggesting that the antianxiety drug buspirone better achieves the goal of optimal anxiolytic therapy with minimal unwanted effects.