An open study of the effectiveness of Internet treatment for panic disorder delivered in a psychiatric setting

• Panic Disorder with or without or without agoraphobia (PD/A) is common and can be treated effectively with SSRI medication or cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). There is however a great lack of access to CBT services, which has motivated the development of self-help approaches requiring less therapist contact. A novel treatment modality in this field, showing efficacy in several randomised trials but until now not evaluated within the context of regular psychiatric care, is Internet-based treatment. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of Internet-based CBT for 20 consecutively referred PD patients in a psychiatric setting. At post-treatment, 94% of patients no longer met DSM-IV criteria for PD (82% at 6-month follow up). The within-group effect sizes (for the main outcome PDSS; Panic Disorder Severity Scale) were Cohens d=2.5 (pre- to posttreatment) and 2.8 (pre-treatment to follow up) respectively. The proportion of responders on the PDSS was 75% at posttreatment and 70% at 6-month follow up. These results indicate that Internet-based CBT can be both an effective, feasible and potentially cost-effective alternative within regular psychiatric care for patients with PD.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi -- Tillämpad psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology -- Applied Psychology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Panic disorder

CBT

Internet

Self help

Psychology

Psykologi

Psychology

MEDICINE

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)