Pharmacotherapy of anxiety disorders in the 21st century: A call for novel approaches
General Psychiatry – December 01, 2019
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
After 30 years of limited anxiety pharmacotherapy advances, a paradigm shift is emerging in psychiatry. Novel molecular pathways, such as those explored in Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Study, are under investigation. Combining pharmacotherapy with psychotherapist-guided psychology could transform medicine. Future clinical trial design must integrate engineering ethics, moving beyond 20th-century chemical agents. This new era for chemical synthesis and alkaloids promises effective anxiety management, potentially including insights from broader Psychedelics and Drug Studies.
Abstract
While limited advances have occurred in the past 30 years in the pharmacological management of anxiety and stress-related disorders, novel molecular pathways both within and without the monoamine systems are currently under investigation and offer promising new avenues for more effective future treatments. Enhancing psychotherapy approaches with pharmacological compounds offers the potential to not only transform the standard of care of these conditions, but more broadly would introduce a paradigm shift in the way medications and their role in psychiatric care are conceptualised. Although further human trials and more translational research are sorely needed, continuing to pursue innovative mechanisms and treatments is hoped to yield substantial results in the coming decades and a departure from the reliance on chemical agents of the 20th century.