Benzodiazepines and anticonvulsants for social phobia (social anxiety disorder)

Both benzodiazepines and conventional anticonvulsants have been evaluated a s treatments for social phobia (social anxiety disorder). Among the benzodi azepines, clonazepam is the best studied, although there is reason to expec t that all benzodiazepine anxiolytics would be effective far this condition . Amen the anticonvulsants, gabapentin and pregabalin, an analogue of gamma -aminobutyric acid (GABA), have been shown to be more effective than place bo in double-blind studies. Other than a small negative open study of valpr oic acid for social phobia, there is a paucity of information on whether ot her anticonvulsants might be useful for this condition.