Health

More Turn to Prescriptions to Ease Anxiety

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 31, 2002 / 8:43 AM EST / CBS

For every person directly touched by terrorist acts, there are countless others who have been touched by anxiety and fear.

CBS medical correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin found more and more people are seeking relief by prescription.

In between the daily anxiety-provoking reports of new threats to our safety come advertisements for prescriptions to keep us calm. Americans seem to be absorbing both messages: As levels of anxiety are rising, so is the demand for medications that can help.

Debi Giuffre, one anxiety patient, says, "I lost two cousins in the World Trade Center."

After September 11th, Debi felt overwhelmed. She admits she was "anxious, just nervous very jumpy, unable to sleep. I have four small children, so [I was being] nasty to my kids, so then I went to ask the doctor if there was something I could do about it."

Debi is not alone. Prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications are up 23% in New York and 8% nationally compared to the week before the World Trade Center attack. New Yorkers using antidepressants for the first time jumped 20%.

Dr. Theodore Strange of Staten Island University Hospital, says, "In the last month, I have probably written more [prescriptions for] antidepressant/minor-tranquilizer/benzodiazepine-type medications than maybe in the last 6 months."

Dr. Strange treats Debi and expects many more sufferers will come forward. "I think a lot of patients don't come in for that. They try to fight it off themselves and down the road that could lead to issues," says Dr. Strange.

Drug makers are not surprised by increased demand in the wake of a national tragedy. Half of those closely involved in the Oklahoma City bombing showed symptoms ranging from anxiety to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dr. Cathryn Clary, of Pfizer, says, "We have to recognize that there are going to be a large number of people who are going to have these disorders and are probably going to need treatment."

In addition to her personal loss, Debi understands the fear of the unknown. "It's the whole mail thing, it's the whole bioterror thing, it's everything. It's a combination--that might just be the beginning. The World Trade Center might just be the beginning of a lot of horrible things."

Faced with such widespread fears, doctors may find that they are fighting their own battle--to keep the nation calm in the face of terror threats.