Treatment of social phobia with clonazepam and placebo.
If clonazepam is helping my social anxiety, what's the longer-term plan — is this a bridge to something like an SSRI or therapy, or are we staying on it?
Reasonable evidence with real limitations. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: Small single-site pilot RCT from 1993; effect size is large but the study predates modern trial registration and reporting standards.
In a 10-week double-blind trial of 75 outpatients with social phobia, 78% responded to clonazepam (mean maximum dose 2.4 mg/day) versus 20% on placebo, with more unsteadiness and dizziness in the clonazepam group.
Worth asking
If clonazepam is helping my social anxiety, what's the longer-term plan — is this a bridge to something like an SSRI or therapy, or are we staying on it?
What it is FDA approved for
Read off the label. Trial duration and approval year are shown only where they were recorded — never inferred.
- Seizure disorders (Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, akinetic and myoclonic seizures; absence seizures unresponsive to succinimides)
- Panic disorder, with or without agoraphobia
Source
Treatment of social phobia with clonazepam and placebo. — Davidson JR, et al. (1993)
Reputable peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.1097/00004714-199312000-00008
DOI: 10.1097/00004714-199312000-00008
How this was scored
- Study design
- Randomised controlled trial
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
- Published in
- Reputable peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- 75
- Preregistered
- No
- Conflicts disclosed
- No
- Independent of proponent
- not recorded
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Where we put this study in context
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "moderate evidence". Reasonable evidence with real limitations. It scores 57 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: Small single-site pilot RCT from 1993; effect size is large but the study predates modern trial registration and reporting standards. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Treatment of social phobia with clonazepam and placebo. — Davidson JR, et al. (1993). Published in: Reputable peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.1097/00004714-199312000-00008. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Randomised controlled trial. Funding: Funding not disclosed. Independence from the proponent is not recorded. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is clonazepam (Klonopin, Rivotril), klonopin, rivotril FDA approved?
Yes — FDA approved for Seizure disorders (Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, akinetic and myoclonic seizures; absence seizures unresponsive to succinimides), Panic disorder, with or without agoraphobia. Approval is for a specific indication, not for everything the drug is prescribed for.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.