Group cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia in a public mental health center

Abstract

The efficacy of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) in the treatment of panic disorder (TP) with or without agoraphobia is well documented, but less is known about group CBT effectiveness. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a combination of the main techniques used in a specific version of CBT for the treatment of this disorder: the Control Panic Program. The treatment consisted of 12 weekly group sessions, following the guidelines proposed by Martin (2007) to implement the Barlow program in a group format (Barlow 1988). All patients showed significant gains in all dimensions assessed, with a high degree of remission in panic attacks’ physiological symptoms and significant improvement in associated symptoms. Results warrant recommending this model for the treatment of panic disorder in public mental health consultancies.