New and emerging treatments for anxiety disorders

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Source: BMJ

Original: http://www.bmj.com/content/392/bmj-2024-083441.short?rss=1...

Published: 2026-03-16T03:31:19-07:00

Anxiety disorders affect a large portion of the population, and standard treatments, although effective, often result in non-response or relapse. The review summarizes new stand-alone treatments such as newer reward-based psychotherapies and strategies to reduce safety behaviors, the floatation-REST technique, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), the drug maritupirdine, and natural supplements including ashwagandha and L-theanine. Treatment augmentation strategies aim to improve exposure therapy through new behavioral techniques, such as the inhibitory search model or behavioral experiments focused on intolerance of uncertainty, and pharmacological agents such as D-cycloserine or scopolamine. Cannabidiol is being investigated both as a stand-alone and as an augmentation therapy. Most of these procedures have shown at least some effectiveness. Some new methods can already be applied clinically, others await further testing.