Abstract
Balneotherapy or crenotherapy is not a recognized therapy in psychiatry. Yet, each year 10,000 patients with essentially anxiety and/or depression disorders stay in spa resorts to be treated. Preliminary studies have confirmed the significance of crenotherapy to treat these disorders. A thorough scientific assessment was led, supervised by the methodological Inserm centres at the ISPED (Bordeaux II University) and the Inserm unit at St.-Anne's hospital in Paris to make a comparative assessment of crenotherapy and paroxetine in an eight-week randomized multicentre study with an observational follow-up over a 24-week period. Two hundred and seventy-seven patients presenting a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) were included and assessed by the Hamilton anxiety scale (HAM-A). The study showed the therapeutic effectiveness of crenotherapy in the GAD (with significant superiority in the therapeutic action of crenotherapy compared to that of paroxetine by week 8), its therapeutic effectiveness over time and its excellent profile for tolerance. This study opened up a new therapeutic means for patients revealing anxiety disorders, especially for those resistant to other traditional therapies proposed in anxiety disorders.
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