Whats the evidence for monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)?
The research on whether monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) help people with panic disorder isn’t very good. We found two just two studies.[2] [1] The first study, which included 366 people, looked at moclobemide (the only MAOI which has been studied for panic disorder). It found that moclobemide worked as well at reducing panic attacks as fluoxetine, another type of antidepressant called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). After eight weeks of taking one of these drugs 6 in 10 people no longer had panic attacks.[1] The second was much smaller and included only 55 people. It looked at the effects of moclobemide plus cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), CBT alone and moclobemide alone.[2] The treatment that worked best was moclobemide plus CBT. But it’s hard to draw any firm conclusions from this study as it was so small.References Tiller JW, Bouwer C, Behnke K. Moclobemide for anxiety disorders: a focus on moclobemide for panic disorder. International Clinical Psychopharm
