A COMPARISON OF FOCUSED AND STANDARD COGNITIVE THERAPY FOR PANIC DISORDER

The relative efficacy of two psychotherapeutic approaches to panic dis order, namely, focused cognitive therapy (FCT) and standard cognitive therapy (SCT) was examined. FCT focused specifically on the ''catastro phic misinterpretation'' of physical and psychological sensations expe rienced during panic attacks induced in the office or occurring sponta neously between sessions. SCT focused primarily on the cognitions and beliefs relevant to interpersonal concerns involved in generalized anx iety. We hypothesized that FCT would he more effective than SCT since the latter did not include an induced panic exercise (exposure conditi on) specific to the: patient's panicogenic cognitions. Forty patients diagnosed with panic disorder were randomly assigned to the SCT and FC T groups for approximately 12 to 18 sessions of treatment, Both groups reported significant decreases in the severity of the clinical measur es at termination. Moreover, 89.5% of the SCT group and 84.2% of the F CT group weir free of panic attacks at 1-year follow-up. Contrary to t he predictions, the results for measures of panic attack frequency, an xiety, and depression did not reveal any significant differences betwe en the two groups. Results suggest that in-office ''exposure'' is nor necessary for improvement and that a primary focus on cognitions assoc iated with generalized anxiety may be an effective intervention. Howev er, since improvement in panic was correlated with normalizing of pani c-related beliefs in both conditions, it is suggested that cognitive c hange may be a crucial ingredient of improvement in panic episodes. (C ) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.