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Propranolol in Neurotic and Thyrotoxic Anxiety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Ian Ramsay
Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer, Department of Medicine, King's College Hospital Medical School; Regional Endocrine Centre, North Middlesex Hospital, London, N.18
Steven Greer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine and Medical Unit, King's College Hospital, London, S.E.5
Christopher Bagley
Affiliation:
Centre for Social Research, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton

Extract

D-L-propranolol has been reported as having a beneficial effect in anxiety (Granville-Grossman and Turner, 1966; Wheatley, 1969; Suzman, 1971). The effect is believed to be due to the drug's (β-adrenergic blocking action which suppresses many of the somatic manifestations of anxiety, such as tachycardia (Turner, Granville-Grossman and Smart, 1965) and tremor (Marsden, Gimlette, McAllister, Owen and Miller, 1968). Although the peripheral manifestations of anxiety may be ameliorated by propranolol it is not clear whether the drug has any effect on the subjective, central feelings of anxiety experienced by the patient (Marsden, 1971).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1973 

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