Why do CNS depressants generally reduce anxiety?

[cowardescent]

I've always found that benzos, opiates, and alcohol eliminate anxiety before a presentation. Stimulants like Adderall only made more nervous. I know benzos/alcohol act on GABA receptors while opiates act on u-opioid receptors. I'm wondering how is it possible for them to both reduce anxiety while targeting two very different receptors.

I know the exception to CNS depressants eliminating anxiety is with antipsychotics/first generation antihistamines. Despite what psychiatrists say about them, they actually increase anxiety. I guess this has to do with them being anticholinergics and stimulating the sympathetic nervous system.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Because your brain is complicated enough to have multiple anxiolytic neurotransmitters and drugs that bind to them. Also the kind of GABA receptors that benzos/alcohol bind to are ionotropic, whereas opioid receptors are metabotorpic. Also, GABA is a relatively small compound relative to opioid peptides, so that affects how long they're active and how fast they move. These differences do matter. The brain is very complicated.

Almost all of the anxiolytic activity in the CNS comes from GABA.

The parasympathetic nervous system I thought. Things like Seroquel. Antichollinergics work on the parasympathetic too.