January 1998
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The purpose of this chapter is to review the behavioral pharmacology and abuse liability of commonly prescribed anxiolytics and hypnotics. More specifically, this chapter reviews the behavioral pharmacology and abuse liability of commonly prescribed benzodiazepines (e.g., alprazolam, diazepam, estazolam, lorazepam, temazepam, and triazolam) and nonbenzodiazepine anxiolytics-hypnotics (e.g., buspirone and zolpidem). The behavioral pharmacology and abuse liability of the benzodiazepines is not exhaustively reviewed since such a review is beyond the scope of this chapter, and comprehensive reviews have previously been published (Woods, Katz, & Winger, 1987, 1992). Instead, this chapter focuses on studies that attempted to determine putative differences between benzodiazepines. This chapter then reviews the behavioral pharmacology and abuse liability of two nonbenzodiazepine compounds marketed for the treatment of anxiety and sleep disorders: buspirone and zolpidem, respectively. Buspirone was the first pyrimidinylpiperazine derivative marketed for the treatment of anxiety disorders, while zolpidem was the first imidazopyridine derivative marketed for the treatment of sleep disorders. Only studies that directly compared these drugs with a benzodiazepine are reviewed in an attempt to determine if these nonbenzodiazepine compounds have an improved abuse liability profile. Both nonhuman and human studies are reviewed.