Rm. Goisman et al., Psychosocial treatment prescriptions for generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social phobia, 1991-1996, AM J PSYCHI, 156(11), 1999, pp. 1819-1821
Objective: Pharmacologic prescriptions for anxiety disorders have changed s
ignificantly in the last decade. This article investigates whether psychoso
cial treatments, as reported by 362 subjects in the Harvard/Brown Anxiety D
isorders Research Program from 1991 to 1996, changed as well. Method: Subje
cts were interviewed in 1991 and 1995-1996 to determine which psychosocial
treatments (behavioral, cognitive, dynamic, or relaxation or meditation) th
ey had received. Results: The percentage of subjects who received each type
of psychosocial treatment either declined or remained the same from 1991 t
o 1995-1996. Dynamic psychotherapy remained the most frequently used method
of these four. The percentage of subjects receiving any such method declin
ed. Conclusions: Behavioral and cognitive treatment, two empirically valida
ted forms of psychotherapy, were less frequently used than dynamic psychoth
erapy, which lacks such validation. All use of verbal treatment methods dec
lined from 1991 to 1995-1996.