Cognitive behavior therapy in panic disorder and comorbid major depression - A naturalistic study

Rief, Winfried; Trenkamp, Susanne; Auer, Claudia and Fichter, Manfred M. (2000): Cognitive behavior therapy in panic disorder and comorbid major depression - A naturalistic study. In: Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, No. 2: pp. 70-78

Abstract

Background: There is a lack of evidence about the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapies (CBT) in settings of routine clinical care as well as in the treatment of panic and comorbid disorders. Methods: We investigated a group-oriented CBT approach for 80 patients with panic disorder including 35 patients with current comorbid major depression. Assessments took place 6 months before treatment, at the beginning and end of treatment, and 1 year later. Structured interviews and multiple clinical self-rating scales were used. Results: Panic patients with comorbid major depression showed higher anxiety-specific and nonspecific pathology. The most striking benefits were in reducing avoidance behavior, while improvements concerning catastrophic beliefs were smaller, but still significant. For most self-rating scale results, patients with and without comorbid depression improved to a comparable degree. However, the end-state functioning of patients with panic disorder and current comorbid depression at admission is significantly lower than for patients with panic disorder alone, Conclusions: The results point to the necessity to develop and improve treatment approaches for patients with comorbidity of panic disorder and current major depression. Copyright (C) 2000 S.Karger AG, Basel.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Form of publication: Publisher's Version
• Faculties: Medicine
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 0033-3190
• Alliance/National Licence: This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
• Language: German