Over the past years, international treatment guidelines have been established for the treatment of
anxiety disorders. Nevertheless, little is known as to whether the actual inpatient treatment follows these guidelines. The main goal of this study was to answer the question whether patients with
anxiety disorder are treated according to treatment guidelines. A total of 2,573 psychiatric inpatients with the diagnosis of
anxiety disorder (920 men, 1,653 women) were identified on the basis of the data of the international drug safety programme in psychiatry AMSP. Of these patients, 25.3% presented with
phobia, 26.6% with
panic disorder, 18.7% with generalized
anxiety disorder (GAD), and 29.4% with other diagnoses of anxiety. In all of the patients, 12.7% did not receive any psychotropic medication and 22.9% were not treated with
antidepressants. Only 59.3% of patients with GAD, 73.9% of patients with
panic disorder, and 52.1% of patients with
phobia were treated according to diagnostic guidelines. The majority (60.3%) of all patients received one or two
psychotropic drugs, and only 3.7% received five or more
psychotropic drugs. In two groups of patients (one group with
phobia and one with
panic disorder), the annual prescription rate of
antidepressants significantly increased over time. The prescription rate for
anticonvulsants in patients with GAD increased from 0% in 1997 to 41.7% in 2011, and for
antipsychotics, from 40.7% in 1997 to 47.2% in 2011. In particular, patients with GAD were commonly treated with
antipsychotics.