Do you believe that buspirone is ineffective in patients who are previously treated with benzodiazepines?  

I've found buspirone helpful for patients who don't want to taper their benzo unless they have another medication on board. I wait until the buspirone is at a stable dose (typically at least 15 mg BID) before tapering the benzo. I specifically avoid cross-tapering/titration as I worry they will asso...

Yes. The safety profile of buspirone is good but the efficacy is poor. In double-blind placebo-controlled studies, it was found no more effective than a placebo for panic or anxiety (Sheehan et al., PMID 2407755) Because of buspirone's long latency before any activity, people who experienced the rap...

My first reaction is; do you have a good reason to do so, other than physician preference? One problem is that there is no evidence that I know of (either in literature or in observations from my practice) that buspirone will be effective for symptoms of anxiety surrounding withdrawal and post-acut...

My experience over many years has been that its response rate is similar to placebo, regardless of prior use of benzos. I have had very few patients that swear by it, but, since anxiety disorders are highly influenced by opinions and external factors and thus especially responsive to placebo, I have...

It’s like every other med in our toolbox: mixed results.

I have found that incarcerated patients express benefit from buspirone with higher frequency than patients in a clinic. It may be because they know benzodiazepines are never an option and they give it a real chance, or maybe they are just desperate for anything that changes their feelings regardless...