Abstract:Thirty hospitalized male geriatric patients with a variety of organic disorders causing moderate to severe anxiety‐tension states were treated with a sustained‐release form of meprobamate in a three‐week, placebo‐controlled, double‐blind study. Meprobamate in this form (800 mg per day in two doses) was significantly superior (clinically and statistically) to placebo for all factors tested—chiefly anxiety, tension, and insomnia—and the overall response. There were no significant side effects. Early in the study 10 patients (at the end of the study uncoded as 7 in the placebo group and 3 in the drug group) complained of lack of symptom relief, so the medication was changed to labelled sustained‐release meprobamate (Meprospan) without breaking the code. Marked improvement then occurred in 4 of this group.The important reduction in frequency of administration and the prolonged effectiveness of the drug were also great advantages in giving the hospital staff members more time for intensive care