Panic disorder: Cognitive behavioral and pharmacological treatment strategies

The past decade has seen significant advances in both psychosocial, notably cognitive behavioral (CBT), and pharmacological treatments for panic disor der Given the widely acknowledged efficacy of both forms of treatment, it i s reasonable to consider that the combination of approaches should yield an extremely potent strategy to treating panic disorder The present report su mmarizes scientific evidence for the singular and combined treatment approa ches to panic disorder: Data across studies indicate that combined treatmen ts yield immediate and short-term benefits above those provided by either p harmacologic treatment or CBT alone. In the long-term, however; these benef its disappear In fact, the combination of benzodiazepines and CBT appears t o produce poorer end-state functioning than CBT alone. Other data indicate that the sequencing of pharmacotherapy and CBT may be useful for benzodiaze pine fading. Although these data are preliminary, combined treatments do no t appear to be the treatment of choice for patients with panic disorder Tre atment algorithms are suggested based on existing data.