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Is zoloft better than prozac for anxiety disorders?

I have ocd. I’ve been on prozac for almost 5 months. It hasn’t really helped much, only a little. Do you think it would be better to switch to zoloft (sertraline) for my anxiety?

In scientific studies, all SSRI’s are almost identical when it comes to effectiveness over all. Some people do tend to respond better to one SSRI compared to another. Also, initially people thought clomipramine (and older medication – a tricyclic) was more effective than SSRI’s, but they probably show similar efficacy and SSRI’s have far less bothersome side effects.

Be aware that usually higher doses of the SSRI’s are needed to treat OCD symptoms compared to the dosages used to treat depression. Often people will need to take 60mg / day of prozac to get improvement for their OCD. If you are tolerating it without significant side effects, you should talk to your doctor about increasing the dose.

If you have a good psychiatrist, he/she should be able to help you with th decision of changing the dose or changing medications.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 7:31 pm and is filed under anxiety disorders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Is zoloft better than prozac for anxiety disorders?”

  1. Simon W Says:
    February 10th, 2010 at 1:09 am

    Zoloft is normally the best SSRI for anxiety and OCD.
    The old tricyclic antidepressant Clomipramine is also very good but can have more side effects.
    References :

  2. George Says:
    February 10th, 2010 at 1:21 am

    In scientific studies, all SSRI’s are almost identical when it comes to effectiveness over all. Some people do tend to respond better to one SSRI compared to another. Also, initially people thought clomipramine (and older medication – a tricyclic) was more effective than SSRI’s, but they probably show similar efficacy and SSRI’s have far less bothersome side effects.

    Be aware that usually higher doses of the SSRI’s are needed to treat OCD symptoms compared to the dosages used to treat depression. Often people will need to take 60mg / day of prozac to get improvement for their OCD. If you are tolerating it without significant side effects, you should talk to your doctor about increasing the dose.

    If you have a good psychiatrist, he/she should be able to help you with th decision of changing the dose or changing medications.
    References :
    http://www.biopsychiatry.com/ocd.htm

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