A group of interested people met for two days last year in order to attempt to reach a consensus on good practice in the management of patients with generalised anxiety. The result of their efforts is published below.

Most patients presenting with anxiety, whether acute or chronic, mild or severe, were until recently treated with tranquillisers. Recognition that these drugs can cause dependence in some patients has prompted a re-evaluation of the pharmacological management of anxiety and the value of non-pharmacological treatments is now recognised. Uncertainty remains among many doctors about the efficacy of the whole range of current therapies and the place of the new classes of drugs for anxiety. However, research findings are now accruing which indicate the relative merits of these various therapies, and clarify the principles on which they are based.