Fewer Panic Attacks With Talk Therapy

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dandelion
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Fewer Panic Attacks With Talk Therapy

Postby dandelion » Fri Dec 11, 2009 9:26 pm

Fewer Panic Attacks With Talk Therapy
Combining Talk Therapy and Drug Treatment Is an Effective Combination, Researchers Say
By Daniel J. DeNoon

WebMD Health NewsMarch 7, 2005 -- People get fewer panic attacks panic attacks when they get talk therapy as well as drug treatment.

The therapy -- a simplified version of a psychotherapy known as cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT -- took only six, hour-long sessions over 12 weeks. Since many panic-attack patients do not ever see a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist, the treatment was designed to be given in doctors' offices by nurses trained in the technique.

University of Washington researcher Peter P. Roy-Byrne, MD, and colleagues report the findings in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

"In a real-world setting … cognitive-behavioral therapy is still capable of exerting a significant beneficial effect," they conclude. "The outcomes achieved in this study cannot definitively be attributed to cognitive-behavioral therapy alone. Nonetheless, the possibility that … cognitive-behavioral therapy alone tailored for the primary care setting might be an efficacious treatment for panic disorder should be systematically tested."

Fewer Panic Attacks With Therapy
Roy-Byrne's team enrolled 232 people who had frequent panic attacks. Most of them also suffered from other psychiatric problems. More than half had chronic depression -- which makes panic attacks much harder to treat.

Half the patients got standard therapy. That is, their primary care doctors gave them antipanic drugs according to a drug therapy "roadmap" designed by psychiatrists. Their doctors were also free to refer these patients to mental health specialists.

The other half of the patients got the same drug therapy. They also got free sessions with a psychologist-in-training with little or no experience in cognitive behavioral therapy. The idea was to imitate the kind of nonspecialist who might be trained to treat patients in primary care doctors' offices.

Therapy sessions taught patients how to respond to symptoms of panic attacks, depression, and social anxiety. They received a video and a workbook, and were asked to attend at least three therapy sessions in person, for a total of six in-person or telephone sessions over 12 weeks. Six follow-up "booster" telephone sessions also were scheduled over rest of the year.

The bottom line: Patients getting talk therapy plus antipanic drugs did better than those on standard treatment. After a year, 29% of these patients -- but only 16% of standard-treatment patients -- had zero panic attacks and minimal anxiety or fearful avoidance behavior. Nearly two-thirds of patients treated with the therapy/drug combination responded to treatment, while only 38% of patients responded to drugs alone.

Roy-Byrne and colleagues note that many patients did not complete the cognitive behavioral therapy program -- even though it was free and scheduling was highly flexible.

"A major goal of future work in this area should be to develop, implement, and disseminate approaches to treatment of anxiety disorders that are maximally acceptable to patients, physicians, and payers," they write.

Copyright ©2009, WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved
Last edited by dandelion on Tue Dec 15, 2009 3:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

aim
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Postby aim » Mon Dec 14, 2009 10:52 pm

I wish I could say that talk therapy worked for me. I don't know... maybe I didn't do it long enough? Not give it enough of a chance? I'm not sure. It's just that when the medication kicked in, my anxiety decreased to a level where I felt that I could handle all that life was throwing at me. I do talk to my fiance though... do you think that counts as talk therapy? He's not a therapist, but he's my best friend. Hm. I wonder if there has ever been a study on that one?

Thanks again, Dandy. Great article.

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dandelion
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Postby dandelion » Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:18 pm

(((((((((((((( aim ))))))))))))))

I think talk therapy is kinda general, not necessarily with your psychiatrist, it could be family, friends, relatives or in your case, your fiancee. Talking about our problems helps a lot, its good to have one on one conversation as we let go of our feelings and get the support and not keeping everything inside us.

Thanks for reading and replying to this post :)

love
dandelion

Mikka

Postby Mikka » Fri Jul 04, 2014 3:48 am

While under hypnosis, a person with panic disorder may be guided to bring attention to coping with specific symptoms and overcoming limiting behaviors.

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Domenico
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Postby Domenico » Fri Nov 28, 2014 1:59 pm

It is a very effective tactic to get rid of mental stress and I think if we talk about some funny matter and make much lough out of it that reenergize the strength. While I come back home after a long day at office I used to come with my colleague practicing this technique.

LuisSteven
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Postby LuisSteven » Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:09 am

Signs & Symptoms

People with panic disorder may have:

1.Sudden and repeated attacks of fear
2.A feeling of being out of control during a panic attack
3.An intense worry about when the next attack will happen
4.A fear or avoidance of places where panic attacks have occurred in the past
5.Physical symptoms during an attack, such as a pounding or racing heart, sweating, breathing problems, weakness or dizziness, feeling hot or a cold chill, tingly or numb hands, chest pain, or stomach pain.


Nice post, like it alot


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