Benzodiazepines: Today and Tomorrow

ISBN-13: 9789401172400 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 293 str.

R. G. Priest; U. Vianna Filho; R. Amrein

Opis

U. Vianna Filho In his historical evolution, man has been able to dominate nature by means of his technological achievements, his knowledge and his inventiveness, attaining an increasing control over the world and its organization. As a result, his power over his fellow men has also increased, giving him more ,and more responsibility which leads, of necessity, to one existential problem: is the contemporary man, with all his power and knowledge, really happy? Technological progress has brought him several rights and desires: health, better insight into the future and greater control over his own des- tiny, but despite all this he still suffers from insecurity and from all the new problems that he has to face, which fact accounts for his imperfections and limitations that inevitably generate anxiety. Anxiety, therefore, constitutes one of the main characteristics of modern man. It can be foreseen today that, in the near future, the entire population of any large city will suffer from anxiety and behave in a 'neurotic' way. Man is seeking relief from pain, suffering and, naturally, also anxiety. Thus all possible efforts are being made to find a solution for this anxiety. The search for substances that are able to eliminate anxiety is one of the constant concerns of modern science, and, in this context, one of the turn- ing points, as we will see in this volume, has been the discovery of the chemi- cal agents known as the benzodiazepines.

Spis treści

1 Introduction.- 2 The benzodiazepines today and tomorrow.- 3 The benzodiazepine story.- 4 Biological basis of the therapeutic effects of benzodiazepines.- 5 Pharmacokinetics of the benzodiazepines.- 6 Importance of pharmacokinetic data for clinical practice.- 7 The benzodiazepines: a clinical review.- 8 The psychophysiological effects of benzodiazepines.- 9 Clinical experience with benzodiazepines in psychosomatic disorders.- 10 Clinical experience with benzodiazepines in neurological disorders.- 11 The use of clonazepam on patients with generalized epilepsy.- 12 Benzodiazepines and depression.- 13 Benzodiazepines in masked depressions.- 14 Some salient clinical findings fronn the use of benzodiazepines in childhood and adolescence.- 15 Some data on parenteral bromazepam.- 16 Psychotherapy and psychopharmacotherapy.- 17 Treatment of alcoholism : experience with benzodiazepines.- 18 Longterm treatment with diazepam : clinical and electroencephalographic variables.- 19 Psychosocial aspects of mental health care in developing countries — the role of the benzodiazepines.- 20 Longterm treatment with anxiolytic drugs: possibilities of pharmacodependence.- 21 Comparative study of the use of benzodiazepines in a university psychiatric clinic and in public and private services.- 22 A Brazilian contribution to benzodiazepine psychopharmacology: research on anticonvulsant therapeutics and the dependence problem.- 23 Flurazepam in insomnia.- 24 The use of a combination of ß-blockers and benzodiazepines in anxiety.- 25 Clinical evaluation of the sulpiride-bromazepam combination, Ro 10–7122, for patients with a depressive-anxious syndrome.- Workshop A: Benzodiazepines today and tomorrow, from a pharmacologica point of view.- Workshop B : Benzodiazepines today and in the future.- Workshop C: Psychopharmacotherapy with benzodiazepines.- Workshop D : Social aspects of benzodiazepines therapy.- Closing speech.- Index of Participants.