Esctalopram in the treatment of social anxiety disorder

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of escitalopram and sertraline in the treatment of social anxiety disorder(SAD).Methods Fifty - two patients with SAD were randomly divided into escitalopram group and sertraline group for 8 weeks.Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS) and Hamilton anxiety scale (HAMA) were used to evaluate the efficacy,and the treatment emergent symptom scale (TESS) were used to evaluate the side effects.Results After 8 weeks treatment,the mean scores of LSAS and HAMA reduced in both groups.The effective rate in escitalopram group and sertraline group were 87.5％ and 83.3％ respectively,and there were no statistically significant differences in the efficacy between the two groups ( P ＞ 0.05 ).But it took effect more quickly in escitalopram group than in sertraline group ( P ＜ 0.05).Patients in both groups had good tolerance.Conclusions Escitalopram is an effective and well - tolerated drug in the treatment of SAD,and takes effect quickly. Key words: Escitalopram; Sertraline; Social anxiety disorder; Liebowitz social anxiety scale