Six-week trial with diazepam: some clinical observations.

Side effects, improvement, and predictors of response were examined in 295 patients treated for greater than or equal to 1 week with diazepam; 234 of these patients completed 6 weeks of treatment. The greatest improvement occurred during the first week of treatment. Sedation was the predominant side effect. Predictors of improvement included low educational level, lack of previous treatment, presence of precipitating stress, low occupational and/or family adjustment, low levels of trait anxiety, and high levels of state anxiety.

Triazolam in insomniac family practice patients.

Triazolam, 0.5 mg, a benzodiazepine with hypnotic properties, was compared to secobarbital, 100 mg, and placebo in a 1-wk study conducted with 100 insomniac family practice patients. Considerable sensitivity to differential treatment effects was demonstrated for these family practice patients as well as for a research methodology that combines a crossover design, permitting preference ratings, with a between-patient design. In almost all sleep parameters, assessed with a variety of subjective techniques, triazolam and secobarbital were shown to be significantly more effective than placebo. Triazolam was consistently and often significantly indicated to be a more effective hypnotic, particularly for reducing nocturnal awakening, than secobarbital. Analysis of self-report emotional distress data revealed that present insomniac patients were slightly more emotionally symptomatic than other nonpsychiatric populations. Triazolam was followed by the greatest and secobarbital the least relief of emotional symptoms and triazolam emerged as an especially effective hypnotic for initially more depressed insomniac patients. Present findings suggest that type and degree of emotional symptomatology may affect the response of insomniac patients to hypnotics.