Panic Disorder
- Panic Attack
- Panic Disorder
- Recurrent Panic Attacks
- Anticipatory Anxiety
- Agoraphobia
- Hypochondriasis
- Demoralisation
- Epidemiology
- Age of Onset
- Situation of Onset
- Stressful Life Events
- Early Life Events
- Maternal Over-Protection
- Separation Anxiety
- Short and Long-term Outcomes
- Comorbidity
- Panic Disorder: Pathogenesis
- Biological Findings
- Provocative Agents
- Neurotransmitter Systems
- Neuroanatomical Models
- Brain Imaging
- Psychological Models
- Psychodynamic Models
- Behavioural Models
- Cognitive Models
- Areas of Controversy and Debate
- The Evolutionary Perspective
- Panic Disorder: Treatment
- Pharmacotherapy
- Benzodiazepines
- Tricyclic Antidepressants
- Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
- Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors
- Other Drugs
- Psychotherapy
Tweet
Treatment for Panic Disorder
PD is perhaps the disorder for which the greatest number of therapeutic strategies have been tested. In spite of a very large number of treatments that have proved to be effective, PD is nevertheless one of the most difficult tasks for the therapist. In fact, while treatments are generally very useful, the compliance of the patients is perhaps the worst in the entire psychiatric panorama and the attrition rate (i.e. the number of cases that drop out during the treatment) may reach 50%. The main problem the therapist is facing is therefore that of vehiculating the treatment to the patient.
In fact, treating PD patients is difficult for the following reasons:
- PD patients are more responsive to some somatic side-effects of antidepressants, probably because of their vegetative dysreactivity.
- They are more intolerant to side-effects, and often misinterpret them.
- Their attitude towards drugs is commonly phobic, i.e., they are afraid of dependence, toxicity, etc.
- Their need for control prevents them from completely trusting the therapist and from relaxing. Pharmacological and cognitive-behavioural interventions are considered the most extensive treatments studied in this field.