ACCEPTABILITY OF PANIC DISORDER TREATMENTS - A SURVEY OF FAMILY-PRACTICE PHYSICIANS

The acceptability of three approaches to treating panic disorder was s tudied. One hundred eighteen family practice physicians read descripti ons of imipramine therapy, cognitive-behavior therapy, and client-cent ered therapy of panic disorder and completed treatment acceptability m easures for each description. The subjects also described their usual treatment and referral practices with panic disorder clients and rank- ordered the three forms of treatment based upon their beliefs about tr eatment effectiveness. Cognitive-behavior therapy was evaluated more p ositively than client-centered therapy on all measures of treatment ac ceptability. Subjects' ratings of the acceptability of drug therapy te nded to fall between cognitive-behavior therapy and psychotherapy, but were not significantly different from either. Physicians reported tha t they tend to treat panic disorder clients pharmacologically and refe r for psychological treatment relatively infrequently. Pharmacotherapy was ranked as the most effective intervention by most physicians, fol lowed by cognitive-behavior therapy, and then by psychotherapy.