Abstract
GABAA receptor positive allosteric modulators (PAM), such as benzodiazepines, may either reduce or enhance violence. This review of the literature found evidence that lorazepam, midazolam, and clonazepam are effective in managing agitation and/or aggression in clinical settings. The efficacy of flunitrazepam is also supported by a more limited number of studies. One single retrospective observational study has proposed preliminary evidence of the anti-aggressive efficacy of zopiclone. Alprazolam, chlordiazepoxide, and diazepam may increase hostility, at least in normal volunteers, during controlled laboratory experiments. Drugs with demonstrated anti-aggressive efficacy have stronger affinity for α1/α2 than α3/α5 GABAA receptor subunits.
Abbreviations
- ABS:
-
Agitated Behavior Scale
- ACES:
-
Calmness Evaluation Scale
- AUC:
-
Area under the curve
- BDHI:
-
Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory
- BZD:
-
Benzodiazepine
- CADTH:
-
Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health
- CGI-S:
-
Clinical global improvement-severity
- CRTT:
-
Competitive reaction time task
- EC50:
-
Half maximal effective concentration
- GABA:
-
Gamma-aminobutyric acid
- HIPS:
-
Hostility Interpersonal Perception Scale
- IM:
-
Intramuscular
- IV:
-
Intravenous
- LOCF:
-
Last observation carried forward
- PAM:
-
Positive allosteric modulator
- PANSS-EC:
-
Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale – Excited Component
- RCT:
-
Randomized controlled trial
- ROC:
-
Receiver operating characteristic
- SOAS-R:
-
Staff Observation Aggression Scale-Revised
- SUCRA:
-
Surface under the cumulative ranking curve
- TAP:
-
Taylor Aggression Paradigm
- TAT:
-
Thematic Apperception Test
- WT:
-
Wild type
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Ceccherini-Nelli, A., Orris, J. (2022). Treating Aggressive Behavior in Psychiatric Inpatients: The Efficacy of Different GABAergic Agents, Benzodiazepines, and Z Drugs. In: Martin, C., Preedy, V.R., Patel, V.B. (eds) Handbook of Anger, Aggression, and Violence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98711-4_111-1
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