- Also spelled:
- Tranquillizer
tranquilizer
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What is a tranquilizer?
Tranquilizers are drugs used to alleviate anxiety, fear, tension, agitation, and related states of mental disturbance. They are generally divided into major and minor tranquilizers. Major tranquilizers, also called antipsychotic agents or neuroleptics, treat major states of mental disturbance. Minor tranquilizers, also known as antianxiety agents or anxiolytics, treat milder states of anxiety and tension.
Major tranquilizers can return agitated, excited, and irrational patients to a state of rational calm, allowing many seriously ill people to live at home and engage in productive work. Minor tranquilizers have a calming effect and eliminate both the physical and psychological effects of anxiety or fear.
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How do tranquilizers affect the human body?
Tranquilizers, also known as antianxiety or antipsychotic agents, are drugs used to alleviate anxiety, fear, tension, agitation, and mental disturbance. Major tranquilizers address severe mental states in psychotic patients, suppressing symptoms of schizophrenia without curing it. They may block dopamine in the brain, leading to side effects like tremors and spasms.
Minor tranquilizers, like benzodiazepines, relieve anxiety's physical and psychological effects by enhancing GABA, which reduces nerve transmissions in the brain. Side effects mirror those of barbiturates, including sleepiness and reduced alertness. These drugs can cause physical dependency, requiring larger doses over time, and are meant for short- or medium-term use.
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What are the main types of tranquilizers?
Tranquilizers are drugs that reduce anxiety, fear, tension, and agitation and are divided into two main categories: major and minor. Major tranquilizers, also called antipsychotics or neuroleptics, treat major mental disturbances like schizophrenia. They include phenothiazines, thioxanthines, butyrophenones, clozapine, and rauwolfia alkaloids.
Minor tranquilizers, also called antianxiety agents or anxiolytics, treat milder anxiety and tension. Benzodiazepines like diazepam (Valium), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), and alprazolam (Xanax) fall into this category. Other minor tranquilizers include meprobamate and buspirone.
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When are tranquilizers usually prescribed?
Tranquilizers are generally prescribed to alleviate anxiety, fear, tension, agitation, and related states of mental disturbance. They are categorized into major and minor tranquilizers, each addressing different severities of mental conditions.
Major tranquilizers (antipsychotic agents or neuroleptics) are prescribed to individuals with major states of mental disturbance, such as those with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. These drugs help to alleviate delusions, hallucinations, and disordered thinking, enabling patients to return to a state of rational calm.
Minor tranquilizers (antianxiety agents or anxiolytics) are typically prescribed to individuals experiencing milder states of anxiety and tension, whether they are generally healthy or have less serious mental disorders. They are also used to relieve strain and worry arising from stressful circumstances in daily life.
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What are some common side effects of tranquilizers?
Common side effects of tranquilizers include sleepiness, drowsiness, reduced alertness, and unsteadiness. Major tranquilizers can cause tremors, rigidity, restlessness, and involuntary spasms of the face, tongue, and lips. The minor tranquilizer, clozapine, can induce an infectious disease known as agranulocytosis.
Benzodiazepines, a minor tranquilizer, can cause physical dependency, even in moderate dosages, and the body develops a tolerance to them, necessitating the use of progressively larger doses. Less common minor tranquilizers can be associated with habituation and psychological dependence. Heavy, prolonged use may result in physical dependence and severe withdrawal symptoms including insomnia, tremors, hallucinations, and convulsions.
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Why is it important to use tranquilizers carefully under medical supervision?
Tranquilizers, including major antipsychotic and minor antianxiety types, require careful usage under medical supervision due to their potential side effects and risks. Major tranquilizers can cause tremors, rigidity, and spasms, while minor tranquilizers can lead to sleepiness and reduced alertness. Both types can cause dependency, and the body can develop a tolerance, requiring progressively larger doses. Overuse and unsupervised consumption of tranquilizers can lead to significant health and social consequences.
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tranquilizer, drug that is used to reduce anxiety, fear, tension, agitation, and related states of mental disturbance. Tranquilizers fall into two main classes, major and minor. Major tranquilizers, which are also known as antipsychotic agents, or neuroleptics, are so called because they are used to treat major states of mental disturbance in schizophrenics and other psychotic patients. By contrast, minor tranquilizers, which are also known as antianxiety agents, or anxiolytics, are used to treat milder states of anxiety and tension in healthy individuals or people with less serious mental disorders. The major and minor tranquilizers bear only a superficial resemblance to each other, and the trend has been to drop the use of the word tranquilizer altogether in reference to such drugs, though the term persists in popular usage.
Major tranquilizers are highly selective in alleviating the delusions, hallucinations, and disordered thinking of schizophrenics and other psychotic patients. The drugs return agitated, excited, and irrational patients to a state of rational calm, and they have enabled many seriously ill people who would otherwise be hospitalized to live at home and engage in productive work. Major tranquilizers do not cure schizophrenia but merely suppress its symptoms, and they are usually prescribed on a long-term basis. The basic types are the phenothiazines, thioxanthines, butyrophenones, clozapine, and rauwolfia alkaloids. The phenothiazines are the most widely used of these and include the drug chlorpromazine (q.v.). They are thought to work by blocking the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. This leads to a reduction of psychotic symptoms but can also result in such unwanted side effects as tremors of the limbs, rigidity, restlessness, and involuntary spasms of the facial muscles, tongue, and lips. (See also phenothiazine.) The thioxanthines and the butyrophenones, chief among which is haloperidol (Haldol), are similar to the phenothiazines. Another drug, clozapine, whose exact mode of action remains unclear relieves schizophrenic symptoms in some patients who are not helped by phenothiazines. Clozapine lacks the side effects of the phenothiazines but tends to induce an infectious disease known as agranulocytosis. The rauwolfia alkaloids, such as reserpine, are no longer in common use.
The principal minor tranquilizers are the benzodiazepines, among which are diazepam (Valium), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), and alprazolam (Xanax). These drugs have a calming effect and eliminate both the physical and psychological effects of anxiety or fear. Besides the treatment of anxiety disorders, they are widely used to relieve the strain and worry arising from stressful circumstances in daily life. Because of this, benzodiazepines are among the most widely prescribed drugs in the world. Benzodiazepines work by enhancing the action of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which inhibits anxiety by reducing certain nerve-impulse transmissions within the brain. Benzodiazepines resemble barbiturates in their side effects: sleepiness, drowsiness, reduced alertness, and unsteadiness of gait. Though less dangerous than barbiturates, they can produce physical dependency even in moderate dosages, and the body develops a tolerance to them, necessitating the use of progressively larger doses. The drugs are thus intended for short- and medium-term use. Other, less commonly used minor tranquilizers include meprobamate (Equanil, Miltown) and buspirone (BuSpar).
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