Ten healthy female volunteers received single doses of amitriptyline 50 mg (AMI); mianserin 20 mg (MIA); trazodone 50 mg (TRA); paroxetine 30 mg (PAR) and placebo (PLA), with or without a social doses of alcohol (ACL) in a double-blind, balanced crossover study where each subject acted as her own control. Psychomotor activity related to car handling ability was measured on a battery of tests at 1.5 and 4 h following admission of the drug. In this placebo-controlled study, acute doses of AMI 50 mg, 20 mg and TRA 50 mg alone with alcohol showed evidence of significant impairment of psychomotor skills related to vehicle handling and of perceived sedation at 1.5 and/or 4 h following treatment. Under identical circumstances PAR 30 mg produced no detrimental effect on any of the test measures, there was an impairment with PAR + ALC of one component of divided attention task and subjective measurement of sedation. (A)
Abstract