Anxiety is an emotional or psychological state manifested by a fearfulness that takes over all or parts of an individual's life and limits many aspects of her day-to-day existence. Prescription medications for treating anxiety have evolved over the years to address problems such as unpleasant side effects and psychological and physiological dependence. Modern anxiolytics, or anti-anxiety medications, and antidepressant medications that are now commonly used to treat anxiety cause fewer difficulties than those prescribed in the past. Different anxiety disorders require different medications, so it is important to get as precise a diagnosis as possible before beginning to use prescription drugs.
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs
Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or SSRIs, such as sertraline or Zoloft, paroxetine or Paxil, citalopram or Celexa and escitalopram or Lexapro, are used to treat both depression and anxiety. For some people, SSRIs have fewer serious or unpleasant side effects than some of the older tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors that were once more commonly used to treat these conditions.
SSRIs do not cause the kind of weight gain people experienced in previous generations of antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications. Some medications, such as sertraline and fluoxetine, lead to weight loss because the drugs can suppress the appetite and affect taste receptors, causing nausea.
Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors or SSNRIs
Venlafaxine, commonly known by its brand name Effexor, is a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) antidepressant prescribed to treat anxiety disorders. Effexor works by restoring certain balances in the brain's chemistry, and this helps relieve anxiety in some individuals. Weight gain is rare when taking Effexor, and some people actually lose weigh when taking this medication.
A Journal of Clinical Psychiatry abstract on the National Institutes of Health's PubMed.gov website discusses research by physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who have conducted studies showing that Venlafaxine "may be an effective treatment for binge-eating disorder associated with overweight or obesity."
Benzodiazepine Anxiolytics
Anxiolytics are prescription drugs used to treat anxiety disorders. Benzodiazepines are a common class of drugs prescribed to manage anxiety episodes. The most familiar example of a benzodiazepine is diazepam, sold in the United States under the brand name Valium.
Withdrawal symptoms from benzodiazepines may develop from a few hours to three weeks after you stop taking a benzodiazepine. Symptoms following long-term use, include "insomnia, anxiety, loss of appetite and of body-weight, perspiration, tremors, tinnitus and perceptual disturbances," as reported in a British National Formulary article on Hypnotics and Anxiolytics.
Alprazolam or Xanax is a benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety and panic disorders by slowing down certain unbalanced brain chemicals. Some side effects of taking Xanax include insomnia, irritability and dizziness, as well as nausea, vomiting and appetite reduction that may lead to weight loss.
Other Anxiolytics
Buspirone is a psychotropic anxiolytic drug sometimes used to treat anxiety. Also known as BuSpar, this medication can cause weight loss in some people, according to Phillip Long, M.D.
Bupropion or Wellbutrin
Some people taking Wellbutrin for anxiety or depression experience decreased appetite and weight loss as side effects. According to Duke University's Department of Psychiatry researcher K.M. Gadde in "Obesity, A Research Journal," a study based on clinical observations that bupropion caused weight loss led researchers to investigate "the efficacy and tolerability of this drug in overweight and obese adult women." They found that "bupropion was more effective than placebo in achieving weight loss at 8 weeks in overweight and obese adult women in this preliminary study."
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