For over thirty years the benzodiazepines monopolised not only the anxiolytic market but also clinical and animal research in anxiety. Indeed many animal tests developed since the 1960s have been optimised for the benzodiazepines and some programmes have even screened candidates as potential anxiolytics on their benzodiazepine-like side-effects rather than their anxiolytic activity. With the realisation of the drawbacks of the benzodiazepines, namely their potential for tolerance and dependency, there has been a renewed interest in alternative anxiolytics both from existing drugs such as the tricyclic and monoamine oxidase antidepressants and from newer agents such as buspirone. In addition anxiety is no longer considered to be a unique entity but rather an umbrella term for a series of specific anxiety disorders such as panic disorder without or with agoraphobia, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), specific phobias, social phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These new clinical categories have opened another dimension in the therapy of anxiety requiring the optimisation of treatments for different syndromes. This book is a critical review of today's anxiolytics and those that may become the anxiolytics of tomorrow. What is clear is that currently there are few clinically satisfactory alternatives to the benzodiazepines for the treatment of acute anxiety. For chronic anxiety, it is generally agreed that benzodi azepines are not the treatment of first choice. The tricyclic and monoamine oxidase antidepressants, the serotonin reuptake inhibitors and buspirone offer better solutions for chronic anxiety but they are still far from being ideal."

For over thirty years the benzodiazepines monopolised not only the anxiolytic market but also clinical and animal research in anxiety. Indeed many animal tests developed since the 1960s have been optimised for the benzodiazepines and some programmes have even screened candidates as potential anxiolytics on their benzodiazepine-like side-effects rather than their anxiolytic activity. With the realisation of the drawbacks of the benzodiazepines, namely their potential for tolerance and dependency, there has been a renewed interest in alternative anxiolytics both from existing drugs such as the tricyclic and monoamine oxidase antidepressants and from newer agents such as buspirone. In addition anxiety is no longer considered to be a unique entity but rather an umbrella term for a series of specific anxiety disorders such as panic disorder without or with agoraphobia, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), specific phobias, social phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These new clinical categories have opened another dimension in the therapy of anxiety requiring the optimisation of treatments for different syndromes. This book is a critical review of today's anxiolytics and those that may become the anxiolytics of tomorrow. What is clear is that currently there are few clinically satisfactory alternatives to the benzodiazepines for the treatment of acute anxiety. For chronic anxiety, it is generally agreed that benzodi azepines are not the treatment of first choice. The tricyclic and monoamine oxidase antidepressants, the serotonin reuptake inhibitors and buspirone offer better solutions for chronic anxiety but they are still far from being ideal."

The young Englishman, Peter Bennett, came to visit this beautiful and peaceful valley deep in Southern France to forget the infidelity of his ex-fiance with his ex-best friend. Getting lost and accidentally discovering a strange well with possible connections to the Cathars and their treasure, being enrolled by an ex-pat Brit into a dubious property swindle and a whirlwind romance with a gorgeous older woman certainly take his mind off his amorous deception in the UK. These events and his naive enthusiasm, however, entangle him in a deadly international intrigue where no one is quite who they originally appeared to be. An ordinary person in an extraordinary situation, can Peter find within himself the resources he needs to survive and to find a way out of this tangle? This is a revised version of the story originally published in 2008 under the title 'The Well'.

Four university students get the loan of a sailing boat for a cruise on the Darkwater River on the East coast of England. The innocent nautical pleasures of these debutant sailors are harshly interrupted by brutal events that not only terminate their cruise but pursue them afterwards as a menace to their futures and possibly to their lives. With the help of an unexpected ally, they finally decide to act in a radical way. Did they have any other choice? Could they have behaved differently? These questions are likely to haunt them for the rest of their lives.

When Peter Bennett is made redundant from his publishing company in the UK he decides he needs a break before starting on a new phase of his career. Influenced by his mother's life-long love of France he decides to accept a long-standing invitation to visit friends in South-West France or "Deepest France" as he likes to call it. But from the moment he sets foot on French soil nothing goes to plan and Peter rapidly finds himself involved in a series of intrigues as the fast-paced plot twists and turns like the deep mountain valley where the action takes place.